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Councilmember Henry Chang annouced that after 14 years of serving in the Council's "At Large" position, he's stepping down and not seeking reelection. I personally will miss Henry Chang as councilmember, because he never acted like the public should bow down and worship him in any way. He was always nice, and not just to me, but to everyone. It's rare that one hears a bad word about Henry Chang. He will be missed. Here's The Montclarion's account and their look at the 2008 Oakland City Council elections: By Kelly Rayburn STAFF WRITER - The Montclarion The field of candidates for Oakland's June 3 City Council elections includes business owners, community activists, members of the school board and the man known to many as the North Oakland vigilante. It does not include long-time councilmember Henry Chang Jr. Chang made an 11th-hour decision against running for re-election nearly 14 years after he was appointed to the council to fill the vacancy l

Hammer talks about his new venture DanceJam.com at The BizWorld Luncheon held last December 4th 2007 in San Francisco.

After weeks of discussions, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums finally got his request for $7 million in funding for new police officers. But buried within this victory comes a question of how to train them. A question posed by none other than Oakand Police Chief Wayne Tucker. According to the Oakland Tribune , Tucker said "It's going to be a real challenge to train the new recruits." That's a huge statement to make. It means that the police department lacks the people to train the new people. Makes you wonder who the heck did the planning for this allocation of money? Wow. If you think about it, that means there's less of an incentive to actually follow through with the Mayor and Council's decision and implement the new policy!

Arnold and Kim Originally uploaded by genexmagazine Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger puckers up to congratulate Kim Klein, the winner of the Fitness International Competition at The Arnold Classic. The Arnold Classic is an annual bodybuilding event the Governor established well before he became Governor of California.

A true service to a city that needs the help. But one has to ask how that will change the nature of life around the Lake? If the Cathedral is the center of a free clinic, will it draw more of a criminal element to the Lake Merritt area? Oakland's new cathedral will have free clinic for uninsured 'Not only a center for the Catholic community, but really, the soul of the city' By Barbara Grady, STAFF WRITER Article Created: 03/08/2008 02:42:04 AM PST OAKLAND — Hoping to help some of 166,000 people without health insurance in Alameda County, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Oakland is planning to open a free health clinic in the new Christ the Light Cathedral Center under construction in downtown Oakland. By the time it opens in late September or October, the Cathedral Center, at 21st and Harrison streets, will include a 1,700-square-foot health clinic staffed by a doctor and a nurse practitioner and drawing from a community of volunteer physicians, diocesan officials said.

I received this news in an email from the Adams Point Action Council: Friday, March 7 FIRST FRIDAYS AFTER FIVE! First Friday! 5–9 p.m. JJoin us every first Friday of the month for exciting programs and activities-tonight there's reggae in the café with Root Awakening; special performances at 7 and 8:15 in the James Moore Theatre by the Korean fusion jazz band Purirak, contemporary Persian ballet with the Shahrzad Dance Company, and modern dance by the Navarrete x Kajiyama Dance Theater; talks and book signings with Lonny Shavelson and Fred Setterberg, authors of Under the Dragon, and J. Gary Gwilliam, author of Getting a Winning Verdict in My Personal Life; shopping, yoga, and a great chance to make new friends. Don't miss the most exciting party in Oakland! Full cash bar-museum store and café open. All ages welcome. Included with museum admission.

A "redirect" is when one types "oaklandtribune.com" and is taken to "www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune" where the Oakland Tribune's website is actually located. But guess what, folks, as of 1:24 PM on Sunday, March 2nd, that "redirect" does not work. The report is that "Safari can’t open the page “http://oaklandtribune.com/” because it could not connect to the server “oaklandtribune.com”." No kidding. Try it and let me know if that happens for you. This points to the overall problem of news in Oakland in the 21st Century. That few people care about what's happening and such that a "large" newspaper like the Oakland Tribune would allow it's redirect to not work. People aren't used to typing www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune, as much as just simply "Oakland Tribune" -- that's just a fact. What's going on here is a crisis of lack of concern about news in Oakland, and the Tribune

Jane Armbruster of Oakland wrote this letter to the editors of The SF Chronicle: Editor - Regarding Chip Johnson's Feb. 15 column, "Oakland mayor politicks as people are killed:" Does anyone really believe that the presence of Mayor Ron Dellums or any elected official would have prevented the tragic loss of life in Oakland that weekend? Could Mayor Ron Dellums, Sen. Don Perata, Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and Attorney General Jerry Brown have donned Superman outfits and put themselves in the paths of bullets? I worked to elect Ron Dellums because he understands that Oakland, and other cities, need more resources to address the deep-seated problems that produce murder in the streets. I would do so again because was in Washington, D.C., lobbying for resources. Unless he and other officials obtain more resources to address urban problems, governing cities is nothing more than administering scarcity. Administering scarcity means denying funds for filling some pot

This Oaklandish video reminds me of one that Disney may have made during that time. It promotes Oakland with a focus on the weather. What's also interesting is the use of "MOA" for "Metropolitan Oakland Area". "Here's the residents live happy lives; healthy lives.." Check it out.

From the Yahoo! district message board for the Adams Point area.. Posted by: "Banh, Hoang" hbanh@oaklandnet.com hlbee Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:49 am (PST) Hi AdamsPoint folks, This is a meeting organized by District 2 City Council Office, but it will include the OPD Area 2 Commander and his staff. Adams Pt. is in the Area 2, which consists of Police Service Areas 3 and 4. Reducing Crime in Oakland Wednesday, March 5 6:30pm to 8:30pm Edna Brewer Middle School, Panther Theater, 3748 13th Ave at E. 38th St This meeting will give audience members an opportunity to hear directly from Oakland Police commanders about public safety efforts in District 2 and the rest of Oakland. Q & A with your Councilmember and OPD to follow.

I don't know what's going on, but the last thing I'm going to do is get a Taco over on Foothill Blvd. The Oakland Tribune reports that on Thursday another man was killed while waiting on a Taco on Foothill. The last time this happened was on January 15th. I don't know the motive and I do know from reading that this person or persons who are doing this have not been caught as of this writing. If the murderers are trying to close down a certain Taco stand, they're doing a good job with these actions. That's not a flip comment; it's true. Why Foothill and why a Taco stand? The Trib reports "The killing was Oakland's 24th homicide of the year. Last year at this time there were 14 homicides. Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $10,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. Anyone with information is asked to call Oakland Police at 510-238-3821 or Crime Stoppers at 510-238-6946. " St

I saw this at the APAC 14 X Yahoo Group: > Hi All, > > I just posted a recent photo of the flower thief. See the group's ""Photos" folder, and inside > that, a folder called, not too cleverly, "Suspect Photos." > > I'm still trying to determine for certain that he and "Smiley" are one and the same, though > we've gotten some confirmation on that from a few different neighbors. It's also unclear > whether he's still of interest to the police. Several of us have seen him around since he was > supposedly picked up, so we're not sure if the police are done with him, etc. > > At the very least, he's stealing flowers from all over the area. At worst, he's dangerous. If > anyone has any additional information, please post. > > Also, the Suspect Photos folder is public. Anyone ought to be able to add to that folder. > > Thanks, > > Mary Which caused me to write this reply. H

Oakland Personal Injury Lawyer Bob Schock talks about personal injury law and the construction site. See his vlog show at http://oaklandpersonalinjurylawyer.blogspot.com

This annoucement came from the Yahoo Message Board. It's a great news source, but what's depressing is the number of crime reports on it. Hello Everyone, We're happy to announce that Oakland Crimespotting is back, thanks to the generous help of Oakland's City Information Technology Department. After three months without access to report data, we've been granted a reliable, regularly-updated source of crime report information. This is great news: it means that the website is back up and running with current information, e-mail alerts and RSS feeds work again, and we at Stamen Design can explore new ways of presenting and publishing this important information. Here are a few things you can do, now: Visit the site at http://oakland.crimespotting.org/ View a map at http://oakland.crimespotting.org/map/ Sign up for alerts at http://oakland.crimespotting.org/alerts We are also interested in what additions to the site you would find useful or interesting. So far, we

Kofi Bonner | Bonner With Lennar in SF Bay Area | 49ers Stadium Issue After a stellar career as an executive in the National Football League and with a credit card company, my friend Kofi Bonner is back in the San Francisco Bay Area as Director Of Urban Land for Lennar Corporation. Here's some background on the person who was once Interim City Manager for Oakland from the SF Business TImes. Kofi Bonner is back. Lennar Corp. has hired the former Bay Area planning and political whiz to help in its Hunters Point and Treasure Island developments and search for fresh Bay Area opportunities from San Jose to Sacramento. "It's wonderful to see the old faces. Many have moved onward and upward and are as cantankerous and loving as ever," said Bonner. "It's great to be back." Known for his aggressive role in redeveloping Emeryville during the 1980s, Bonner also served as the head of economic development and interim City Manger in Oakland before becoming an

The rain was pouring! I decided to stay in. And while power is out in Half Moon Bay and in Southern Marin County, it's not out here in Adams Point in Oakland. The SF Gate has a full story on this.

It's about time! OAKLAND -- Alameda County hopes to attack two root causes of homelessness next year with new social service programs aimed at the mentally ill. Using a portion of a annual $20 million grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, the county and two partners will seek to offer permanent housing and services to mentally ill homeless persons. "The programs will serve a very under-served and chronic homeless population in our county," said Riley Wilkerson, manager of the county's community development agency. "We are really starting to make inroads and focus in on the populations that have a high level of use." One of the new programs will focus on mentally ill homeless who have criminal histories. The program, Forensic Assertive Community Treatment Shelter Plus Care, will give permanent housing to 13 homeless individuals and provide each with services. The other program, STAY Well Housing Project, will focus on 31 menta

In 2002, a former aide to The Mayor of Oakland met the head of the University of San Francisco Sport Management department to discuss stadium financing, and the need for a new stadium for the Oakland Baseball. In that meeting, USF Professor Dr. Dan Rascher, PhD, took note of Zenophon "Zennie" Abraham’s web-based simulation game The XFL Simworld, and said "I need that for my class." When Mr. Abraham finished his second simulator in late October 2002, the Oakland Baseball Simworld, he met again with Mr. Rascher, and Sports Business Simulations (SBS) was born. On January 24th of 2003, SBS became a Delaware Corporation, with seed capital, and based in Oakland. Now, SBS is about to turn five-years-old. SBS is the first company who's products are built around the Forio Macro Language (FML) programming language developed by San Francisco-based Forio Business Simulations. "Forio's partners, Michael Bean and Will Glass have been our friends and advisers over the

I had the pleasure of attending a great lunch event. YouTube Co-Founder Chad Hurley was the featured guest at the BizWorld.org luncheon on December 4th, 2007. He was introduced by MySpace Co-Founder Brett Brewer and interviewed by Tim Draper, VC & Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. In the talk, Draper asked Hurley questions surrounding YouTube after its acquisition by Google, and really focused on the changing landscape of the online advertising industry and how YouTube was responding to it. Hurley said that Youtube's success rests in the constantly growing inventory of video content that people want to see. As for the Google relationship, Hurley commented on their food and the large resource base that they have at their disposal for growth and for legal protection, although he didn't say that directly. Hurley also pointed to YouTube's new relationships with educational institutions like UC Berkeley and MIT, where students can view class lectures online.