Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Blogging random thoughts on Labor Day 2010 in Oakland. First, say Chip Johnson, my friend, can you name all of the candidates running for Mayor of Oakland without a list to assist you? A bottle of wine says you can't do it on video . Talking to Don Perata is great, and it was a great column, but we need more coverage from you - try doing all of them! Besides, Don skipped the Forum. He had a reason, but Perata's not Mayor; acting like he is will not win the prize. ...Still, I'm starting to see Perata lawn signs... Second, this blogger has video from the Oakland Mayor's Race Forum on Jobs from last Thursday, but thankfully so do a number of Oakland blogs. That means I can wait and take my time. Yeah! In fact, I have a backlog of videos that are of a higher priority than the Forum, and I will explain why below. But interviews with Oakland District Two Councilmember Pat Kernighan and her challenger Jennifer Pae, and an upcoming interview with Joe Tuman hav...

Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan  The latest Oakland Election News has Oakland Mayor's Race candidate Jean Quan and Oakland City Council District Two Candidate Jennifer Pae and Oakland's current City Auditor Courtney Ruby landing the endorsement of The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club of Oakland. The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club's (WDRC) endorsement process started with a meeting last Thursday night, where members nominated candidates for consideration. For Oakland Mayor, only two candidates were named for consideration: Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan and Jean Quan. For Oakland City Council District Two, only Jennifer Pae was named for consideration and not the incumbent Pat Kernighan. For City Auditor, only Ruby was named for consideration. The WDRC counted ballots and on Monday announced the votes for endorsements, and released the results on its website on Monday. Here's the full list of Oakland and Berkeley WDRC endorsements: Oakland Propositio...

Regular readers of this space know this blogger travels to Atlanta, Georgia to help Mom and just keep her company almost every month. My mother lost her husband and my stepfather in 2005 and to prostate cancer. (In fact, my Mom had breast cancer, and my father and stepfather passed away from prostate cancer in 2005, so that was a hard year.) Fortunately between good friends nearby and my aunts and uncles just four hours by drive in Tennessee, and then me, she's not without company. Even though it's hard on me as an only child, and I'll explain why later in this post, I do enjoy my company with my Mother and for several reasons. First, she knows who I am as a person. Second, I don't know how much life I have to share with her, she's a breast cancer survivor, so things she may said or done that have bothered me in the past, don't impact me anymore. Third, she's my only family member. And finally, my stress goes away when I'm here. We're out in...

 Berkeley Prof. Michael O'Hare  The UC Berkeley Letter To Students On California by Berkeley Professor Michael O'Hare is one that California Gubernatorial Candidates Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman should see because both are part of the generations that Michael O'Hare points to as essentially responsible for the decline of California, but for different reasons. Jerry Brown was Governor of California when Prop 13 (also called AB 8), the legislation reducing property taxes to 1 percent, was passed in 1978. Prop 13 us widely pointed to as the legislative device that robbed California of the tax revenue is used to provide the public services it was known for. Meg Whitman never voted or bothered to register to vote, or participated in California Government and politics , but now thinks she can run the state.  The idea of running for governor somehow entered her head 26 months ago. Who Is Michael O'Hare? Michael O'Hare is Professor of Public Policy At The UC ...

20-year-old 5 feet 7 inch, 240 pound, brown eyed and black haired Andrew Barrientos is armed, dangerous, and on the run after shooting a Fremont police officer who was trying to serve a search warrant at an East Oakland house at 2009 Auseon Ave, according to Oakland Police Spokesperson Jeff Thomason. Fortunately, the unnamed Fremont Officers's injuries are not life threatening. He's being treated for a leg wound at Highland Hospital. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums issued this statement: Our hearts and prayers are with the Fremont police officer shot this afternoon, his loved ones, his fellow law enforcement officers and the City of Fremont family as they cope with this latest incident of senseless violence. On behalf of the Oakland community, I thank him for his law enforcement service and express my deep regret that this dedication has resulted in injury on our streets. I support Chief Batts and the men and women of the Oakland Police Department in pursuing every lead to...

According to an email from Richard Lieberman, KPIX Channel Five in San Francisco has suffered a rash of departures due to the terrible economy. Richard's become the recorder of change in San Francisco Bay Area Media via his blog Rich Lieberman Report . In fact, Rich's so good some of the local newspapers and news websites quote his scoops without crediting him . Not here. Anna Duckworth  Here's Richard's info: Jeffrey Schaub sent me a list of the prime talent that have left or were removed from KPIX these past two years-- Manny Ramos Tony Russomanno Bill Schechner John Lobertini Rick Quan Barbara Rodgers Jeffrey Schaub Hank Plante Anna Werner Lisa Chan Sue Quan Anna Duckworth John Kessler Sydnie Kohara? Wendy Tokuda as anchor Wow, I wasn't aware so many people left, especially Anna Duckworth and John Kessler? But that's what I get for being on planes back and forth to Atlanta and New York City so much. Also sad to read of the pa...

In an effort to keep you as consistently informed about the Oakland Mayor's Race as possible, this blogger assembled the first playlist of interviews of Oaklanders running for Mayor. Don MacLeay  This playlist, however, is not complete and but it will be, and soon. As of this writing, it contains 8 videos of seven of the 10 candidates, totaling approximately 140 minutes, and 6,051 views (and counting). So far, Terrance Candell, Greg Harland, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don MacLeay, Councilmember Jean Quan, and Joe Tuman (with an asterisk), have been interviewed. Kaplan represents two videos with one more to be added. Tuman and Harland both have one more video each coming to the set, and in Tuman's case a full 30 minute conversation. And I have to talk to Marcie Hodge, Arnie Fields, and Larry Lionel Young. The playlists do not include forum videos or Oaklanders impressions of the candidates, or the race itself. That will be in a separate playlist. As to h...