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More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! The giant 100-acre Oakland Army Base is the focus of a development competition between two groups led by people well-known to many Oaklanders: "AMB/CCG" (for AMB Property Corporation and the "CCG" is California Commercial Group) is directed by Phil Tagami, of California Commercial Investments, and who redeveloped two Oakland landmarks the Fox Oakland Theater and the Oakland Rotunda, and Federated Oakland Associates, who's boss is Michael Johnson, the developer of several multi-unit housing projects in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the builder of the San Francisco version of Yoshi's Jazz Club.   The Oakland Army Base  The developers are engaged in a competition with the Oakland City Council as the final "decider". The winner gains the right to enter into an "Exclusive Negotiating Agreement" with the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, which will lead to the production o...

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! YouTube , Yahoo , MySpace , Metacafe , DailyMotion , Blip.tv , StupidVideos , Sclipo and Viddler On July 1st, Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Barbara Zuniga issued a decision that altered Richmond, California's economic course for the future. She ordered the oil giant to rewrite its environmental impact report (EIR) because of environmentalists' contention that the EIR was flawed and that a newly refurbished Richmond refinery would not produce lower carbon emissions than the current facility. Her decision was hailed as a victory for "the little guy" by my friend San Francisco Chronicle Columnist Chip Johnson. But his column made me ask "Who's really the little guy, here?" So in a search for the answer to my query, I did some digging and found a person who represents the real "little guy": Dennis Roos. But before we meet Roos, a brief recap is in order. Two Sid...

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! Visit YouTube You know, in this whole matter of retaining the A's in Oakland, as much as I've been upset with the City of Oakland and this newly developed Oakland subculture that wants to keep the city small, and as impressed as I am with the determination of San Jose to try and yank the team from Oakland, there's one perception I can't escape at all: San Jose just plain doesn't deserve the Oakland A's. The A's are an embeded element of Oakland's cultural history, as much as The Port of Oakland, the Hell's Angels, or The Black Panthers, The Oakland Athletics have been here during the decades that saw the rise of the Oakland Raiders as an NFL power. They were witness to, and considering the political friendships at the time during the 70s, a part of the growth of Oakland's black political base. The A's played a key role in the 1989 Loma Piereta Earthquake, and were impa...

From BooksFromTLCGraphics on YouTube: Trailer for book titled "Straight Outta East Oakland," by Harry Louis Williams II Firstborn Walker wants desperately to flee the mean streets of East Oakland and attend a prestigious university. With no job, he turns to the one person who can help him secure the money for college -- a charismatic, ultra-violent crack dealer. Now part of the Black Christmas mob, will Firstborn catch that triple life sentence, catch a hot one through his forehead, or escape the game altogether? This powerful book tells his story.

From usshaolinkungfu at YouTube Oakland Chinatown Night Market 2009 Presented by the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce July 11, 2009 U.S. Shaolin Kung Fu kicked off the Night Market with an exhilarating kung fu performance that thrilled the crowds! This talented young group proudly shared their amazing skills through a variety of forms, traditional weapons, self-defense tactics, and cooperative and constructive team work- and theyve embraced this demonstration with both poise and enthusiasm. Finally a very special appreciation to Master Sun for his breath-taking performance that got the audience up on their feet! U.S. Shaolin Kung Fu was honored to have performed at this wonderful and culturally enriching event!

I just read - briefly - the matter of the $900,000 contract that was given to Mark Lundquist's firm for construction management. But I have to be really honest and get after the Tribune's Matt Krupnick and Thomas Peele for writing the article as if Harris was giving a contract to a friend, then benefiting from the contract himself. I write that because the article states how Harris and Lundquist were involved in the ownership of a radio station, then wrote how much Lundquist made off the no-bid contract. Now, that I've written that, I'll explain this: anyone who can see knows that Mark and Elihu have known each other for years. But also it should have not been a "no-bid" contract and I think that's where Elihu screwed up. But to defend a man I worked for, I will write that Elihu works to hire good people and has little patience with job screw ups. He believed - I'm sure - that what he did was the right thing to do. For those who may think Elih...

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! Visit YouTube YouTube , MySpace , Metacafe , DailyMotion , Blip.tv , Sclipo and Viddler On Saturday July 11th at 5: 30 PM, I walked out of a cafe on Grand Avenue near Lake Merritt in Oakland and noticed that sweet smell that comes after a light rain and a weird amber tint of the sidewalk below me, so I looked up and was surprised by an incredible site: a remarkable double rainbow that stretched overhead and to the left and right of me.  It was such an amazing event that people came out of ZZA's and Sidebar restaurants just to take pictures of it; fortunately, I had my small Flip Video Camera.   Double rainbow in Oakland There were two rainbows, one on top of the other in a perfect arch. It was such a site that people came out to their balconies to see it, and car traffic on Grand Avenue slowed because drivers were craining their necks to get a better look at it. What was remarkable was how robust ...