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This isn't something that calls for the amount of time that Oakland Local's given to it , but there's someone in Oakland who has this silly idea that Oakland Local's going to "gentrify" the web. The idea is that Oakland Local will take traffic away from his website. Well, there's one answer: make a better site. The web is a wide open space. Not that there's room for everyone, but there's a lot of room. If the person who's concerned about losing traffic wants to have more of it, all they have to do is learn Search Engine Optimization. And if they're concerned about Oakland Local, study how the site is designed and go from there. But calling Oakland Local a name or saying that it's going to "gentrify" the World Wide Web is just plain silly. Not something to Rock The Casbah about.

The battle between Waste Management and Recology for garbage supremacy in San Francisco has an interesting twist. To recap, Houston-based Waste Management has owned the contractual right to collect San Francisco's waste and dump it in a place called the Altamont Landfill, which is located in Livermore, California. NorCal Waste, now called "Recology,' has been the company that collects garbage in San Francisco, then hands it over to Waste Management for storage in Livermore. But Recology wanted to have the piece of the business Waste Management held for years. To that end, the upstart San Francisco-based firm submitted a bid for the contract this year, and to the San Francisco Commission on the Environment, and to the surprise of many, beat Waste Management. So it's all over, and Recology gets to work, right. No. Both Recology and the San Francisco Commission on the Environment unknowningly swatted a giant bat at a hornet's nest of interlocking interests c...

The Oakland Museum on 10th Street next to Laney College in Oakland, California had a great all-night block party that was a ton of fun. You know it was a perfect Oakland event when you run into people you know from all over the town, as was the case for this blogger. Before I install the video from that fun event, this post was necessary if only to gush about how nice it was to see a free Oakland event that reflected the true sprit of the City. Yes, the Museum looked great, but the people looked even better. The drinks flowed, the food was good considering much of it was either free to cheap, and the artwork was excellent. I didn't stay all night because my dear friend insists on getting up early to do her endurance training. Were it not for that, I'd have stayed until 3 AM; the party closed at 6 AM. We spent time with Susan Mernit and Amy Gahran, and Editor and Publisher and Senior Editor of Oakland Local (who had staff all over the Museum) as well as a number of ...

The annual May Day march in Oakland began at the Fruitvale BART drew an energized crowd that grew to over 3,000 by early afternoon. Filipino Advocates for Justice Executive Director Lillian Galedo was a featured speaker facing a crowd who gathered under the slogan, "We are all Arizona". On stage, organizers invited City Councilmembers Jean Quan and Jane Brunner to announce their proposal for a city boycott of Arizona and Arizona-based businesses. (The full City Council will consider the proposal this Tuesday at a 5:30 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza.) But talk soon turned to national immigration reform issues. Lillian Galedo addressed the congressional immigration reform proposal introduced late last week, which emphasizes enforcement over legalization. A move, Galedo said, "basically puts legalization on hold". According to an article in today's Washington Post , the proposal takes a Republican "secure the border" approach. ...

Continuing the run of stupid statements made by GOP representatives, we have Carly Fiorina. (As a note before this blogger continues, it's important to get out of the way that Carly Fiorina's successful battle against Breast Cancer is an inspiration to others suffering from this awful problem. I wish Fiorina continued success in that area, but not in politics.) In a grilling of an interview by Wolf Blitzer on CNN's The Situation Room, Carly Florina, running against U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer in an election battle for Boxer's California seat in The Senate, said that she understood and supports Arizona's controversial illegal immigration law. NNow the catch is Carly didn't say "I support and understand" in one sentence, she danced around the admission but then after Blitzer pressed her finally said "I understand why Arizona" passed the law and said it was because of "fear and frustration." Carly agreed with Wolf's question t...

Yesterday, this blogger filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the City of Oakland and to the following offices: The Oakland City Attorney, the City of Oakland Office of Economic Development, The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, The County of Alameda County Administrator's Office, and The City of Oakland's City Administrator's Office. The email with letter attached stated: Pursuant to the state open records act, I request access to and copies of all emails, written letters and correspondence, and studies of any kind regarding the budget and operation and management of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, and future development plans for baseball, football, and basketball stadiums in Oakland and over the time period from today back to 1/1/2008. I ask that the agencies wave fees for copies of studies and emails (which can be printed out from a computer) and to avoid charging greater than the the cost to make a black and white copy of a document. ...

Chevron's part of Richmond in that it's the city's largest employer. Richmond needs Chevron to provide not just jobs but help for the many non-profit community service programs that Chevron's in position to help with. Chevron lost a court battle regarding its environmental impact report. What Chevron must do and reportedly will do is comply with the courts request to the letter. Chevron should also stop making noises that it will leave Richmond in the city's time of need. What certain Richmond elected officials and so-called activists need to do is stop with the emotional saber-rattling that reads like a Fox News Cable program but from the left, and start with smart deal-making that gets to a win-win for both the City of Richmond and Chevron. That has not happened under the current political leadership in Richmond. Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, while being a very nice person, is more of an activist than a deal-maker. The good Mayor does not seem interested in...