Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Oakland City Hall Gwillym Martin's an Oakland Resident and taxpayer who first found this blogger on Facebook and sent via email a copy of a complaint filed against the City of Oakland. Now people file lawsuits all the time, and at times for silly reasons; not in this case. But any media person who seeks to pick up on this story should make sure they understand it first. Read on. Martin filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court that specifically names City Administrator Dan Lindheim, CEDA (Community and Economic Development Agency) Director Walter Cohen, Building Services Director Ray Derania, and City Controller Osborne Solitei, and because "revenues generated from permit and code enforcement activities have been misappropriated for purposes other than those permitted by law and seeks an injunction to prevent further misuse of funds," as the email reads. Looking beyond the email and at the documents, Gwillym Martin's simple and controverial point is...

Oakland's bar scene has really improved over the last five years. Where there were one or two good bars downtown ten years ago, now there's arguably six of them. You know the environment's good when there's a bartender competition. The problem is such events have been all-male or mostly male. Not anymore. On October 5th, 2010, Pican Restaurant will play host to the first Oakland Female Bartender Competition sponsored by Grand Manier and Zennie62.com . A Great Idea. How the idea started goes back to a video I created of another Oakland bartender competition held at Sidebar on Lake Merritt. This one: Where at the end of the video, I said Oakland needs an all female bartender competition. Well, Josh Perry and the good folks at Pican Restaurant at 2295 Broadway at 23rd, in Oakland CA, figured it should be done and at Pican! One thing: the first person to say they saw this at Zennie62.com, of which this blog is part of the network, gets a bottle of Grand M...

Zennie62.com is proud to officially announce that the legendary Hip Hop Journalist and Oaklander, Davey D (Dave Cook), has joined Zennie62.com as a featured blogger. Davey D has his own area called "Hip Hop News with Davey D." Frankly, for the number of people Davey D knows and has known in the Hip Hop community, from Mos Def to Oakland's Too Short, and Tupac Shakur, it's almost tragic that Davey D's work and voice has not been promoted and celebrated. That's coming to an end.  Davey D is a living legend in Oakand. Check out Davey D at Zennie62.com

Tony Bruno , the legendary sports talk radio host, briefly talked with this blogger about The Reggie Bush Scandal and his new Comcast SportsNet California television show with Gary Radnich this Sunday, September 12th at 9 PM EDT. First, for those of you who are saying "Isn't Tony in Los Angeles?" The answer is "Yes." But Bruno will, as he put it, "fly back and forth from LA" to do a show in San Francisco - one that he's talked with Radnich about doing for a long time. "Gary and I have been doing radio for a long time," Bruno said, "and we enjoy doing it together. So we've kicked around the idea of doing something up here on television. And we're finally gonna give it a try." As to Reggie Bush, who's Heisman hasn't been formally taken from him, even though a rumor surfaced to the level of truth two days ago, Bruno said "It didn't surprise me. The Heisman group was talking about it. I know Regg...

Oakland, CA - This evening at about 4:55 PDT, and as this blogger was walking to Grand Avenue, there was far more than the usual level of traffic on Mac Arthur Blvd off the I-580 Freeway toward Grand Avenue. It wasn't exactly clear what happened until, as I walked closer, it was obvious a large truck with a reddish brown bed was at the center of what appeared to be a giant four-car pile up. What happened, according to the California Highway Patrol Officer I talked to, was that the truck's breaks went out and it slammed into what appeared to be a silver Honda. Apparently, the Honda was stopped, waiting for the light to change at the intersection of Mac Arthur and Grand near Lake Merritt. When the truck hit the car, it caused a chain reaction vehicle accident, with four cars slammed into each other. Thankfully, though there were several injuries, no one was killed. Moreover, the car in front of the rest of the group was pushed to the side on impact, and not into Gr...

President Obama is joined by this blogger in wishing you a Happy Rosh Hashanah. Here's Obama's video from yesterday: Prof. Stephen Hawking Come to think of it, since Stephen Hawking elected to introduce his book The Grand Design and declare that God did not create the Universe , it's fair to say that for him, Rosh Hashanah's not good, eh? You'd think Hawking would show some respect for Jews by not releasing his book just a day before Rosh Hashanah, right? Talk about flunking his performance review. Geesh. This blogger still can't understand why Stephen Hawking would write a book trying to debunk the existence of God, but not The Devil. Makes you wonder if his book itself's the Work of The Devil. From this vantage point, Stephen Hawking looks just like the religious zealots he and his fans rightly criticize. Two sides of the same coin. I prefer the edge. It rolls, if you know what I mean. Happy Rosh Hashanah

Cal Women's Rowing Team member Jill Costello passed away from complications due to lung cancer on June 24th 2010 and at the age of 21. A San Francisco event and run called Jog For Jill has been established and will be held this Sunday, September 12th at 5 PM. Two members of the Cal Women's Crew team were at the Cal vs. Davis football game wearing Jog For Jill shirts, and were kind enough to provide the video interview above. Below are the other details from the event website, where you're encouraged to pre-register here CLICK FOR SITE : Pre-Registration: Online/$25 Day of Registration: 4:00 p.m./$30 Shotgun Start: 5:00 p.m. After run/walk celebration: 6:00 p.m.- 8:30 p.m. Event Location: Golden Gate Park Music Concourse Bandshell S Tea Garden Drive San Francisco, California 94118 Participants are encouraged to pre-register. Only pre-registered participants will be guaranteed a walk/run T-shirt. T-shirts will be limited to the first 2500 day of regis...