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Image via Wikipedia For some reason, these events go together: today's the 71st Anniversary of The Wizard of OZ and on Sunday, August 15th, at 7:30 PM PDT at The Herbst Theater in San Francisco, REAF, The Richmond Ermet AIDS Foundation holds its 16th annual presentation of "Help Is On The Way" called Help Is On The Way XVI. Melissa Manchester It's hard to believe The Wizard of OZ is a full 71 years young.  In fact, it seems timeless.  Music and songs from The Wizard of OZ are etched into my brain, in part because one of my favorite songs to sing at The Alley in Oakland, is If I Only Had A Brain .  But it is 71 years yound, so it's important to stop and consider the impact this awesome musical movie has had on American Culture. It has been translated in 40 languages, and been the basis for scores of reinterpretations, including the popular musical, The Wiz . Which reminds this blogger why the link with Help Is On The Way XVI was made in my pea brain! ...

Image via Wikipedia Downtown Oakland, CA  Apparently, the City of Oakland's going to great lengths, almost neurotic, to alter the street culture of Downtown Oakland, but this bit of news is really disturbing. It rests in a Facebook message I just received, and part of which is posted here: have you heard about some of the ambitious plans of the Downtown and Lake Merritt Business Improvements District boards? Take a look, they want to pipe in shitty soft country musak 24 hours a day at all the corners of 13th and Broadway to drive away "undesireables" So a visit to this link reveals a Wikepedia page which reads: In July 2008, landlords in the district voted a parcel tax upon themselves to fund the "Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown Community Benefit Districts" to provide "special security services, cleaning of sidewalks, beautification, marketing and improvement of district identity and organizational services for businesses in the d...

If you follow this space, you recall the long process of working to get a final design for the new San Francisco Transbay Terminal. The old terminal, slated for demolition, was the hub of trains into San Francisco from the East Bay and using the San Francisco / Oakland Bay Bridge. Then, after trains gave way to cars and buses, it was the terminus of AC Transit Bus Service and San Mateo Transit Service for the East Bay and the North Bay. But with all of that, it had still fallen into a state of deterioration such that it became a blight in the South of Market area of downtown San Francisco. After the establishment of the Redevelopment Plan in 2005 and a competition, a design created by Pelli Clarke Pelli emerged as the unanimous winner. Here's this blogger's video from the competition and the presentation in San Francisco City Hall in 2007 : Ground breaking marks new beginning The plan is to take shape over the next seven years and be complete in 2017. I'm ce...

California Attorney General Jerry Brown should look into this. According to The Associated Press via The Huffington Post , Wells Fargo was ordered to pay $205 million to its customers as part of a successful class-action lawsuit. What Wells Fargo was doing was allowing debit purchases to go through when a customer's account was overdrawn. But Bank of America has the same practice, and this blogger experienced it after a client bounced a check. What Bank of America does is pile on one payment when you're overdrawn, thus triggering another overdraft charge and making more money from it. Then, when the non-paid vendor tries to collect again, the Bank of America issues a second overdraft charge ! My sources in and out of Bank of America have confirmed this problem. In other words, Bank of America has practiced the same process Wells Fargo was accused of and is now ordered to pay its customers back to settle. U.S. District Judge William Alsup accused Wells Fargo of pro...

The Oakland Mayor's Race is not without its share of groups who think they can influence the race by excluding certain candidates. The Oakland SEIU 1021 Union Organization is just one of them. As this is written, the Oakland SEIU 1021 is about to hold its interviews of candidates for the Oakland Mayor's Race. From many conversations held Tuesday, it appears the SEIU finally got its act together and contacted all of the candidates, instead of just three: Former State Senator Don Perata, and Oakland Councilmembers Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan (District Four and At-Large, respectively.) Now, from the information communicated to this blogger, the SEIU's talking to more than just the three, although as of this writing the Joe Tuman for Mayor campaign was left out of the SEIU process. UPDATE: a text from the Joe Tuman Campaign explains that after "several phone calls" they were invited for later tonight. In all, it was an awful state of affairs punctuated b...

Libby Schaaf , who's constant attention to detail and hard work ethic has earned her California Attorney General Jerry Brown's endorsement, officially filed her paper work to run for the Oakland City Council District Four Seat on Tuesday. Even before Libby filed the papers, she managed to raise over $76,000. This space supports Libby Schaaf for City Council District Four Seat. The question is, did the other candidates file their papers?  If not, then the field of challengers will have been reduced and we will know who the competitors finally are.

Dr. Terrance Candell calls out other candidates  As of this writing, the latest news in the Oakland Mayor's Race has Oakland Councilmember and Oakland Mayor's Race Candidate Rebecca Kaplan filing her papers to run for the office as this is written, as has Greg Harland, Don Macleay, and Joe Tuman, and with Former State Senator Don Perata and Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan set to file their papers on Wednesday. As of this writing, it's not confirmed if Orlando Johnson secured the necessary 100 signatures needed to complete his filing documents by Wednesday.  Larry Lionel Young, Jr., has also filed early, but has made himself a relative unknown save for a YouTube video of a house he's trying to sell and a handout at the last Oakland Mayor's Race Candidate's Forum. Kaplan issues a statement Kaplan, who this blogger interviewed last week , with two other videos from that to come, issued this statement today: "Oakland is ready for a new direction and ...