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Oakland Raiders and Al Davis 10 percent share worth $60 million

Oakland Raiders Manager of The General Partner Al Davis recently announced that 10 percent of the organization was for sale . That news started a small set of media speculation web posts on the value of the organization based on Forbes annual blast about NFL team values. From Forbes, the Oakland Raiders are worth $797 million, which would put the 10 percent chunk at $79.7 million. Mr. Davis, I'll give you $35 million for that 10 percent But the Forbes estimate is wrong. Way wrong. It's wrong because the number's based on 2008 information, yet presented in this year: 2009. Moreover, media discussion on the Raiders value mentions the credit crunch, and the national economy, but fails to include the local employment situation. People need income to buy tickets and that money comes from jobs. In September 2008, California's unemployment was just 7.7 percent , and we thought that was terrible at the time. Now the rate is at 9.6 percent as of October , and

Cool Oakland video a slice of Oakland life - sort of

I happened to make a cyber trip over to the Oakland blog 38thNotes.com , where the posts are always interesting, if off-beat. This one on a video called "Oakland b Mine" is certainly that. Reportedly the video was created to be shown at the baggage claim at Oakland Airport. It's in the perfect place for out-of-town visitors to get an immediate idea of what Oakland's all about: diversity. The video features a man who appears to be Latino chasing after an attractive African American woman he sees in Oakland's airport. While he goes through lengths that are extraordinary to say the least, it's a cute video. I would classify it of the "don't try this at home" variety. You know? The camera takes us through many familiar spots in Oakland, including the Lake Merritt Farmer's Market, which means it was created on a Saturday. The video is cool for the cinematography and the music. Check it out, and pass it on!

Oakland Barnes and Noble may close Jan. 31, 2010

According to Sanjiv Handa of the East Bay News Service the enormous Oakland Barnes and Noble bookstore at 98 Broadway in Jack London Square may close Jan. 31, 2010. Barnes and Noble is expected to make an official disclosure next week, baring any intervention from the City of Oakland to persuade them to remain open. Sanjiv Handa reports that the anticipated closure will cost the City of Oakland's government $125,000 in annual general fund revenue. (He forgot the additional revenue from the predatory parking ticket policy, but admits its harder to quantify.) The closure of Barnes and Noble is a blow to Oakland but the problem of its low profitability comes as no surprise. Chain bookstores around the Bay Area and around America have closed under the weight of the transition to online sources for news and information and the growth of online booksellers like Amazon.com.  San Francisco's Stacey's Book Store on Market Street closed in 2008 for similar reasons. Thi

OSCAR ALERT - Screen Credits and Music Entry Form Due December 1st for Academy Awards

OSCAR ALERT. You have until December 1 to get your Screen Credits and Music Entry Forms in to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) if your movie is to be considered for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. From the press release, AMPAS explains: For a feature film to be considered for the 2009 Awards, the film’s distributor or producer must file an OSC form with the Academy by 5 p.m. PT on December 1. If a feature film is released in 2009 and the completed OSC form is not submitted by the deadline, the film will be ineligible for Academy Awards in any year. OSC forms may be submitted online only, at http://aiwosc.oscars.org/aiwosc/ . Information about submission and feature film eligibility can be obtained by contacting Credits Coordinator Howard Loberfeld at (310) 247-3000, ext. 113, or via e-mail at hloberfeld@oscars.org . For an achievement to be considered in the Original Score or Original Song category, the principal music writer(s) for a feature film must su

Police beat UC Berkeley students during protest. Why?

There are two issues on my mind as we approach Thanksgiving Day. One is why the great University of California at Berkeley would police to surround and beat defenseless students? The other is why we seem to applaud police brutality. I'm chaffing a bit that some local San Francisco Bay Area columnists seem afraid to point out police misconduct, writing instead that in one case - the case of the BART Police officer who slammed the drunk BART rider's face into the window at West Oakland or at least seemed to want to do that - the police officer was "just doing his job". The job of a police officer is dangerous, we know this. But to allow or expect police violence in that case - or in the more awful example of the police called in at Berkeley for the protest - calls the very values of our society into question. This video set collected and presented at the blog Millicent and Carla Fran is what got me. The good news is that protesting students were only ci

Police beat UC Berkeley students during protest. Why?

There are two issues on my mind as we approach Thanksgiving Day. One is why the great University of California at Berkeley would allow its police department to surround and beat defenseless students? The other is why we seem to applaud police brutality. I'm chaffing a bit that some local San Francisco Bay Area columnists seem afraid to point out police misconduct, writing instead that in one case - the case of the BART Police officer who slammed the drunk BART rider's face into the window at West Oakland or at least seemed to want to do that - the police officer was "just doing his job". The job of a police officer is dangerous, we know this. But to allow or expect police violence in that case - or in the more awful example of the police called in at Berkeley for the protest - calls the very values of our society into question. This video set collected and presented at the blog Millicent and Carla Fran is what got me. The good news is that protesting

Oakland Taxi Problem due to Friendly Cab monopoly

Even though I pay attention to national cultural issues, I've not forgot about Oakland. I scanned the blog post on the Oakland Taxi Cab problem with a chuckle because neither the Oakland North newsite or A Better Oakland blog actually hits on the real problem. (A momentary aside. It's time to call Oakland North what it is, a news website. It's not a blog. A blog contains opinions and adheres to a blogger's code of ethics . Oakland North is a site for journalists. I don't go there to get the views of one of their writers; I go there for the news. What's annoying is that as more journalists and journalism students discover new media, they call whatever they do online a blog. Wrong. I cry foul on this. If you're going to blog, let me know what you think , not what someone else thinks; but if not, then its a news website, period. Ok, back to the issue.) The City of Oakland let Friendly Cab have a monopoly role in the industry in Oakland. Fri

Free Thanksgving Day Luncheon in Oakland at 410 14th Street

I received an email from Geoffrey Pete (the former owner of "Geoffrey's Inner Circle" Club) reporting that the Oakland Black Caucus is hosting a free Thanksgiving Day Luncheon at 410 14th Street, near Oakland City Hall, in downtown Oakland, California from 12 noon to 2 PM. NBA stars Derrick Brown from the Charlotte Bobcats and Antonio Davis (who's retired) will be in attendance. Volunteers include Youth Uprising and The Oakland Tech Basketball Team. The lunch event is for everyone, so come to downtown Oakland on Thanksgiving Day.

Oakland Raiders' Bruce Gradkowski can't fix awful passing game

Bruce Gradkowski Oakland Raiders' Quarterback Bruce Gradkowski has become the darling of the Bay Area mainstream media because he replaced JaMarcus Russell and the Raiders won 20 to 17. Because of this, the commonly myopic mainstream media types have fallen all over themselves in praising Bruce Gradkowski.  Time for this blogger to add a dose of much-needed sanity.   Bruce Gradkowski was 17 of 34 for 183 yards, two touchdowns and one interception and posted an awful 73.529 passer rating according to the Quarterback Passing Calculators anyone can use online. I didn't have to use it to tell you the Oakland Raiders passing game is still terrible. Let's get down to the basic fact that this is an under-performing passing game. If Bruce Gradkowski had attempted 34 passes and completed 26 for 270 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions that would have been a passer rating of 128.3, and then we could pop the corks. But the design of the Oakland Raiders passing

BART Officer breaks window with drunk's face - why? Take my poll.

I'm in Georgia as I write this having flown most of the day from San Francisco to Chicago to Atlanta. So just when I think I've only got to pay attention to my Cal Stanford Big Game videos and my Oakland sim, I have this CNN-and- SFGate-reported news of a BART officer smashing the face of a drunk man by the name of Michael Joseph Gibson into a window on the West Oakland BART Station platform. So I immediately went to YouTube and found this video: And showed it to my mother who said "Why did he have to throw him into the window." Exactly. Why? Here we go again. Another predictable argument between those who justify police' violent actions and those who question it. I am tired of the dichotomy, so I decided to create a poll to learn what others think. While the officer's action is questionable, that his presence was desired is of no question. In the video as the officer hauls Michael Joseph Gibson off the train and before he reaches the wi

Cal 34, Stanford 28 - Golden Bears win a Big Game for the ages!

Cal 34, Stanford 28; Cal Golden Bears win Big Game! Remember that because a lot of Cal alums, including me, will never forget it. When a beaming Cal Chancellor Robert Birgeneau roams the Stanford field after the victory, shaking hands and posing for pictures, and says "This was one of our greatest wins", you know it was a special game. It certainly was. It was one for Cal's football history because it marked the first time we beat Stanford to keep them out of a big game after the turn of the century. We've beat Stanford before to harm their bowl hopes - but never The Rose Bowl . Rather than snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Cal did the opposite. Moreover, it happened at Stanford . The win and the significance of it, made the song "You know it. You tell the story. You tell the whole damn World this is Bear territory!" mean more than just words. Stanford Stadium became "Bear territory" with Cal students, alums, faculty and

OaklandSeen - Aimee Allison & Zennie Abraham on KPFA

OaklandSeen is KPFA 94.1 KPFA Morning Show radio personality and twice candidate to represent Oakland City Council District Two (now-Councilmember Pat Kernighan won the race), Aimee Allison's new show where she talks about what's happening in Oakland. This was an interesting show in that it was produced at a makeshift studio within Revolution Cafe at 1612 7th Street in West Oakland, and across from the Oakland Main Post Office. (As an aside, the cafe's real cool and has a nice collection of couches and overstuffed chairs. My only issue with Revolution Cafe is, at an 8 PM time, it closes too early. 10 PM would be great.) Aimee Allison's 85-minute plus show featured Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners' member and 2nd Vice-President Margaret Gordon, Ronnie Stewart of the Bay Area Blues Society, Erica Torrence of People's Grocery, Aimee Allison, and me, Zennie Abraham. (The meat of the video starts about 20 minutes in; you can see and hear us se

Sarah Palin Newsweek Cover: Palin is not Carrie Prejean

Well, just one day after Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin appeared on Oprah for what was a good interview and on the day her book "Going Rogue" was released (I have to admit I bought Star Trek on DVD instead), Newsweek helps keep Palin's name near the top of the public conversation (and makes her into Carrie Prejean ) by using this cover photo: The pict got the best of Governor Palin who took to her Facebook page to complain about it, writing: The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this "news" magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner's World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness - a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows

Niners Candlestick Point stadium looks better with Santa Clara problems

Candlestick Point An interesting development occurred over the past few days and virtually under the radar of much of the media in the Bay Area. Two environmental impacts reports were released at almost the same time: one for the Candlestick Point / San Francisco 49ers Stadium development and the other for the SF Niners stadium proposed for Santa Clara . I also must explain that I'm biased toward the idea of keeping the 49ers in San Francisco, but I'm not beyond telling it like it is with respect to how the enviromental impact reports are presented. I've read both EIRs (it was part of my role as Economic Advisor to The Mayor of Oakland when Elihu Harris was Mayor and for Robert Bobb before I worked to try to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland) and while at 3,000 pages (I didn't read all of the pages), the Candlestick Point includes comments and a detailed and well-organized list of anticipated impacts and ways to work to dampen or eliminate them (called &qu

Free Chipotle burrito at Chipotle Mexican Grill for Halloween - viral?

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Ok, Chipotle Mexican Grill offering a free Chipotle burrito is nice and great for Halloween. If you walk in with a costume, you get a free burrito. But how did this message, this keyword, go viral? As I write this, it's the number 2 most searched Google Trend. I'm not kidding. The source city for this search was Minneapolis, MN, with five percent of total traffic. But think about what that means. It means that in some way Chipotle Mexican Grill was able to send press releases and activate a small number of blogs to push that result and then once it hits Google News, the other newssites will pick it up. Of course, one has to have some kind of national event to be able to trigger such a search, as well as a national brand. Chipotle Mexican Grill qualifies here. This is no small event folks. Anyone who pays attention to online marketing trends should look a

Oakland parking problem: Noel Pinto, Susan Bergmann's upset with you!

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com I got the email below from Susan Bergmann, who's a very upset Oakland small business owner, and especially with Oakland Parking Director Noel Pinto. Susan Bergmann gave me permission to present the email in full to you and she wants Noel Pinto to see it. (I'm telling you, she's really pissed). I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's really in a lather about the City of Oakland's " misery industry ." If you have a problem with Oakland parking you want to share with the World, send it to me at zennie@zennie62.com with the words, "please print for your blogs" in the subject heading. Hi Zennie, I am engaged in a battle with Noel Pinto, new head of parking. He insists on giving me parking tickets on MacArthur Blvd, in front of my office, for violation of 2 hour parking, despite the fact that I come and go all day long.

Bay Bridge Closure - Caltrans should not rush repairs to bridge

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com The latest news in the Bay Bridge Cable Collapse Disaster is that CalTrans spokesperson Bart Ney told KRON-TV that the Bay Bridge could reopen under a "best-case scenario" Thursday if repairs and bridge testing were completed in time. My response: please don't rush this. Let's get it right. In fact, it's not even a good idea to put out the message that this process could be done in a jiffy because if it is, the bridge is re-opened, and we have another Bay Bridge Cable Collapse Disaster, it will be a life-changing event for drivers, passengers, and California. Everyone would call for the heads of the people ruining CalTrans, and the next "F-U" letter sent by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be to Caltrans Director Randy Iwasaki. The quality problems my blogging friend Yobie Benjamin points to should be adressed as part o

Bay Bridge Closure - BART must offer 24-hour service

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Kudos to BART for offering "beefed-up" service with extra trains in the wake of the Bay Bridge Cable Collapse, according to BART spokesperson Linton Johnson , but what's really needed, and we don't have, is a 24-hour BART schedule. There's no real idea when the bridge is going to be fit to be opened and Henry K. Lee's SFGate.com article explains that it could be days before that happens, especially with these high winds impacting the bridge not to mention making sure this accident does not happen again regardless of conditions, so a major part of what (even with this recession) still is our economic engine is crippled. Some Oaklanders, for example, work in San Francisco and don't get off until midnight or later - just when BART has stopped running at midnight even with this closure. So what we face is a period from midnight to 4 am when we can

Does Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan care more about Oakland or being Mayor?

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Yesterday I received an email from Oakland City Councilmember Jean Quan (District 4 - Oakland Hills, Montclair) regarding her decision to run for Mayor of Oakland .  Here's the text from that email: You are receiving this because you are a subscriber to my newsletter.  A few times a year I send out separate political blasts.  You may know by now, I have launched a run for Mayor for November 2010.   We've formed an Exploratory Committee and have met with hundreds of Oakland residents in house parties and other events to hear what they want the next Mayor to do and to share my vision and passion for the Oakland we love. My family has lived in Oakland for over a 100 years; I've raised my family here and love this city. For more than 20 years I've fought for Oakland, working with people at the grassroots to rebuild our schools, save our libraries and the arts,

Oakland parking ticket hastles on the day after; looking for interns

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com I spent so much time dealing with the Oakland Parking ticket and tow situation that I lost time working and some sleep too. Today was the day I caught up with work, but frankly I'm totally overwhelmed. I'm also not looking forward to returning to the Oakland Parking office but I'll have to bite that bullet I suppose. I've got an occupational life beyond any one blog; it includes my simulation games for the classroom and the work I do for clients in building new media platforms for them. So if someone reading this - it's on a bunch of my blogs - wants a small-expense pay internship learning and doing blogging, vlogging, and new media in general, drop me an email and a resume. Ideally I'm looking to restart my "SBS Personalities" program of bloggers but expand it to my Zennie.62 blog network, so up to five people will work. If you want to ge