Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! Today the long awaited Star Trek movie is out and like any nerdy Trekker, I'm excited. I got our tickets 10 days ago and didn't have to stand in line, contrary to what you might think. But the real story here is that on Saturday, May 9th, I'm going to see Star Trek with my long time friends Bill Boyd and Lars Frykman. This is an Oakland Trekker story in brief. Bill, Lars, and I met in Oakland in 1976 when we were 14 years old at what was then called Bret Harte Junior High School, now Bret Harte Middle School. I was new to Oakland, having moved with my mom to the city from Chicago as my mom was in search of better schools for me. How times have changed! The Bret Harte Star Trek Club I was a big Star Trek fan and wanted to start a club at Bret Harte. I had no clue how to do this, so my friends said "You should talk to Bill Boyd or Lars Frykman!" So I was introduced to Bill, who at 14 had the deepest voice ...

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! Folks this is the letter that - coupled with the course of events I described in yesterday's blog post - caused me to write the post explaining why Oakland Athletics Minority Owner Mr. Guy Saperstein is wrong. It's more powerfully worded that what Guy wrote to John Russo and very insulting of the Haas Family, who owned the team long before Lew Wolff's group ever got it. I posted this video response and my blog post is here: BLOG I present it here in the hope that Mr. Saperstein will see his words in a public forum and issue apologies where appropriate, starting with the Haas Family. This is the blog post I wrote, here, and here's a video I posted as a response: April 2, 2009 Senator Barbara Boxer 1700 Montgomery St. Suite 240 San Francisco, CA 94111 Dear Barbara: As you know, Jeanine and I have long supported you and we plan to continue doing so. However, we were very disappointed about the let...

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! Ok. On the A's stadium issue I've read a lot of stuff from a lot of different people, sat in on my last Mayor's Office Sports and Entertainment Task Force Meeting (I quit), read and published John Russo's letter , and now I'm going to give the "once over" to Oakland A's Co-Owner Guy T. Saperstein's letters (plural) that have been bouncing around the Internet. I'm starting a plain old bare knuckles brawl here, as I'm throwing another set of punches to add to John Russo's Ali-like jabs of last week, only my punches are not jabs; I'm going for the knockout. A lot of people aren't going to like what I'm about to write, but others are going to be happy someone said it. Before I turn my anger to Mr. Saperstein, I have to give a tongue-lashing to three people: Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, Oakland Planning Commisssioner Doug Boxer, and Oakland Chamber of Commerce Executive D...

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! Pican Restaurant is in the middle of the revived Uptown in Oakland. Ok. After blasting the organizers of the previous Oakland Blogger's Party for not inviting me and for it being an " All Whites gathering " Oakland Blogger VSmoothe ( A Better Oakland ) was cool enough to invite me to last Wednesday's party, and you know, it was a good event with some diversity in the house. My only misgiving is that the folks' of color were not all active Oakland Bloggers like me or Michael Caton ( An Oakland Citizen ), or...VSmoothe or the good folks who write the Myrtle Street Review , who didn't make it but I'll get them to the next one! (That's a bit of a prod to get it going, folks!) But that written, it was a total blast! I'm happy to see that Oakland has a vibrant culture of people who care enough to write about what's happening in it. I love that they're engaged and it's good to see ...

Assistant Alameda County District Attorney Chris Lamiero discusses the grand jury indictment of Yusuf Ali Bey IV for ordering the killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men.

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Business and civic leaders tried to sound a hopeful message Friday as they met to take stock of Oakland's economy in the midst of a national financial crisis. Their meeting at the Oakland Marriott marked the second anniversary of the creation of a public-private initiative called the Oakland Partnership, designed to attract 10,000 jobs to Oakland over a five-year period. Mayor Ron Dellums joined others in saying the partnership has seen success despite the economic doom and gloom, and that the Obama administration's stimulus package could give Oakland a significant boost.”

  More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! On Saturday, May 3rd, my new television show starts. It's called "The Blog Report With Zennie62" and features the use of my video blogs in a weekly 30-minute format broadcast and co-produced by CoLoursTV in Denver and on Channel 9407 nationwide on the DISH Network , but it's on Comcast in Florida, and Fox and Insight cable systems. The start time is 3:30 PM Pacific Time, 6:30 PM Eastern Time and the show is replayed at 11:30 PM and 2:30 PM respecfully. If you don't have a TV you can see the live stream at CoLoursTV.org . or Zennie62.com This first show focused on selected events that occured after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Officer Johannes Mesherle on New Year's Day. It opens with my walk through a riot-ravaged downtown Oakland where I talked with many people about what happened, including a group of kids who were some of the rioters and that was eye-opening. Then we focus on the words ...