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Alta Bates Summit Medical Center held a ground breaking ceremony this week for its new 11-story Patient Care Pavilion on the Summit Campus. This milestone marks the next generation in a 100-year legacy of patient care in the greater Oakland community. The ceremony was held Monday at 400 Hawthorne Ave., the former site of Samuel Merritt University’s Bechtel Hall. Nearly a decade in the making, this project includes 238 new, private patient rooms, a new Emergency Department and a new 1,000-space parking garage - all designed to meet or exceed state seismic safety requirements. The $350 million dollar project is funded completely by Sutter Health and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center - with no cost to local taxpayers - as a commitment to health care in the greater East Bay. This project merges state-of-the-art technology in a what they call a "calming and healing environment" that will continue Alta Bates Summit’s 100-year tradition of providing quality patient care. ...

Today is the first game of the 2010 World Series and I hope you're as excited as this blogger is. To you Texans from the DFW Metroplex, welcome to the San Francisco Bay Area. (For those of you who don't know, "DFW Metroplex" refers to the metropolitan area that includes the two large cities of Dallas and FTWorth Texas, with Arlington in the middle, all served by DFW Airport.)  Here's some tips for you visiting Texans. (And a special welcome to anyone who attended the University of Texas At Arlington, where my undergrad degree was earned before going to Cal Berkeley for my Master's Degree In City Planning.) Now, this: the San Francisco Giants are going to kick The Texas Rangers ass. Cliff Lee doesn't stand a chance against two-time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum. Still, it's a dream match-up. Here's my tips for enjoying your stay. First, don't rent a car. I don't mean to take money out of their pockets, but you don't ...

Oakland Mayor's Race candidate Joe Tuman and this blogger met last Thursday at Merritt Station at 614 Grand Avenue for this interview. It came at a time when Tuman, like this week, is riding a high of name recognition thanks to Grand Lake Theater Owner Allan Michaan, and a powerful word-of-mouth campaign on the part of people who've met Tuman. The kind, seemingly mild-mannered San Francisco State Professor of Communications has changed the climate of the race from what some have seen as a three-person battle in ten candidates, to a four-person contest among the same field.  Tuman did this even with a late start in the campaign.  He says the campaign  is still "going well.  We managed to get a co-endorsement from the East Bay Express , and a second-place endorsement from The Oakland Tribune .  It was a good boost," Tuman said.  "I don't think people vote on the basis of newspaper endorsements. But it has added to the buzz around the campaign." T...

Oakland Mayoral Candidate Marcie Hodge is suing the East Bay Express over articles and blog posts the Perata Community College Board Member and her family asserts have been defamatory . Prior to a wide-ranging video interview, where the Oakland Mayor's Race candidate talks emotionally about the East Bay Express coverage in addition to her run, Hodge explained and later confirmed for the record that her sister, a lawyer, filed a lawsuit in Alameda County specifically targeting the East Bay Express . What triggered the lawsuit was "the last straw:" last week's entry by East Bay Express writer Robert Gammom asserting that Hodge had been violating campaign laws; Hodge told this blogger her campaign finance report would be filed this week. This is what Robert wrote: Finally, it should be noted that mayoral candidate Marcie Hodge has yet to file a campaign finance report as required by law during the election. Hodge has spent significant sums on billboards, mail...

In this installment of The Oakland Mayor's Race Chronicles, this blogger just received a call from Oakland Mayoral Candidate Greg Harland, and boy did he have a lot to say on the record. First, Harland was really pissed with something he thinks was written by Bob Gammon of The East Bay Express , but appears on the The Anybody But Perata Website, which is written and managed by J. Douglas Allen-Taylor.  This is it: Greg Harland Reverses Field, Now Says Perata Is His Second Choice For Mayor Of Oakland Oakland mayoral candidate Greg Harland has suddenly changed his position on Don Perata, telling voters at a Thursday night candidates forum at Holy Names College that Perata is now his second choice for mayor of Oakland. Harland said he felt Perata had the experience and was "well-qualified" to become Oakland's next mayor. With all Oakland voters getting second and third choices for mayor this year in the city's new "ranked choice" voting format, c...

With just over one week before the election, this blogger went precinct walking for family friend Libby Schaaf, who's running for the Oakland City Council District 4 seat (Oakland Hills - Montclair). I told Libby she should run for Mayor of Oakland long ago, but she's taking the step-ladder approach. If elected, and she really deserves your vote, she's going to make an excellent Oakland councilmember, but we've got to go door-to-door to do it. I've got to admit, it was fun. What was most enjoyable was meeting the people who make up the area around the Montclair Shopping District. We started with a coffee-table meetup at Montclair Park, led by Oakland Councilmember Jane Brunner, who gave us a good pep talk to get us going. More along the lines of what to say and not to say, than anything else. Meanwhile, a group of joggers went on their circuit, and people were just getting out to run errands. We were on our way. A Lot Of "Joe Tuman For Mayor...

Michael Kilian, candidate for Oakland City Auditor, submits Conflict of Interest Complaint to Oakland Public Ethics Commission On October 10, 2010, Michael Kilian, who is opposing Courtney Ruby in the campaign for Oakland City Auditor, submitted a compl aint to the Oakland Public Ethics Commission alleging that Inspection Services Manager Antoinette Renwick failed to report a familial relationship with her department's primary blight abatement/cleanup contractor, Arthur Young Debris Removal Service, which constitutes a conflict of interest. Kilian states this one example of nepotism appears to have cost the City more than $1 million each year in cleanup contracts. Renwick, who became Inspection Services Manager in 2002, appears to have retired October 15, five days after Kilian's complaint was filed with PEC Executive Director Dan Purnell. Courtney Ruby's nepotism audit does not appear to have detected or corrected this example of nepotism. A 2007 audit of Public Wo...