Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

The First Unitarian Church of Oakland is one of the oldest and most storied buildings in the East Bay. Built in 1891, it just underwent an $8.1 million retrofit and renovation and the community will celebrate Sunday, Jan. 24th at 3pm. This historic church is a California state landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It's so old that its steeple was used as the model for UC Berkeley's famous Campanile. It features incredible redwood arches and stained glass windows, and has been the site of many important events, most recently the memorial service for KPFA's Andrea Lewis. This Sunday, January 24, they are holding a rededication ceremony to officially reopen their sanctuary after the renovation work was completed late last year. It's at 3pm at the church, which is at 14th and Castro Streets -- right next to the 980 freeway -- in downtown Oakland. There will be speeches, a performance by Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir -- which was founded at the c

Yesterday, the new Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts set himself apart from other lawmen. He's been making the rounds in community meetings throughout the city, but yesterday he spoke of his life mission and love of young people. In his passionate and charming talk as keynote for the Martin Luther King community celebration at the Taylor United Methodist Church in West Oakland, he spoke with honesty about his difficult upbringing in South Central Los Angeles, losing a young person on the streets of Long Beach, and finding the answer to the question"God, why am I here"? The crowd of 1000 got on their feet when he asked people to take a pledge to do anything it takes to prevent violence like the kind that paralyzed Christopher Rodriquez (who was in the audience). He asked the crowd, "What would you do if failure wasn't an option" and rejected the complacency and numbness that seems to follow violent street crimes. Could the police department finally have

[Aimee Allison] Mayor Dellums is finally using his city-chartered right to break a council tie by casting a vote for his appointee Michael Lighty to the Port Commission. The Mayor, who recently brokered a deal with port truckers and the state over tighter emissions regulations, is finally playing his hand at strong mayor. The Port Commission is one of the most powerful groups in city politics, and plays a key role in approving development project like the BART extension and housing, environmental fights as in the ongoing stand-off between truckers and the port, and jobs - as in whether local people are going to get the 6,000 jobs that will be created by the project at the old army base. More from Sanjiv Handa, East Bay News Service: Mayor Ron Dellums is still planning on attending the Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday, Jan. 19, to cast the tie-breaking vote approving the nomination of Michael Lighty to the Board of Commissioners of the Port of Oakland.It has been so long since a may

The City of Oakland is in the process of breaking up the monopoly long-held by Oakland's Friendly Cab. According to a source who did not wish to be named, last week on Friday, Oakland Police Officers took taxi medallions away from Yellow Cab cars owned by Friendly Cab. The source reports that the cabs will be offered to the public "sometime around January 25th." According to the source, Surrender Singh, the owner of Friendly Cab, was making as much as $250,000 a week from operations; that's $12 million a year. But allegedly Friendly Cab was "abusive" to its drivers," said the source, who did not elaborate on the claim, "Something needed to be done." Before the City of Oakland's action to end their monopoly, you had to go to Friendly Cab to lease a taxi and the cost is $65 per day. All of the expenses are paid by the driver. Friendly Cab has 100 cars, so the 11 Yellow Cabs that will be lost should not be a large impact on its

Racism returned to Oakland Friday night. A patron at Oakland's popular Cafe Van Kleef wrote "Happy Nigger Day" on the bathroom's wall board. The person who discovered the slur was one of the establishments' employees, who came out to tell Cafe Van Kleef owner Peter Van Kleef as he was in conversation with this blogger, who's obviously black. The group of us, Peter, Eric, and a person who's name I do not know, talked about it and agreed that Peter, as the owner, should make a defining statement and ask for the person who did it to identify his or her self. Peter Van Kleef made the decision to go up and take time from the blues band that was playing to tell the patrons what was done and that "Cafe Van Kleef is not a place for that." While the sound did not carry well in the crowded bar, Peter's speech was loud enough for many to hear near the stage. Peter asked for the person who wrote the slur to step forward; that person did not.

[Aimee Allison, OaklandSeen] Oakland attorneys and activists Walter Riley and Barbara and Selena Rhine are back in the states after a harrowing experience in the aftermath of the quake in Haiti. For three days they dug through rubble and gave emergency medical care in the midst of the crisis. Longtime Haiti activists, their work continues now that they are coming home. Riley and Rhine had been in the Port-au-Prince area touring service programs and schools as part of their work for the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. On Tuesday afternoon, they were visiting Cite Soleil, a poor industrial area north of the airport. They joined Jean Van Kernizan, host and producer of Haiti's Radio Soleil, for dinner when the quake hit. At the the end of the shaking, his home was one of the few left standing in the area. Answering the need, Haiti Action set up a makeshift hospital in Van Kernizan's home to do what they can for the masses of injured people in the area. Until last night, Riley and the

This is the second update of two earlier blog reports at Zennie62.com on Help for Haiti after the 7.0 Earthquake. The organization list was updated such that new information was placed in alphabetical order. (If I made a mistake in an entry, please send an email to me.) (And the reason for the delay was for me to take a break both physically and emotionally and also let the information accumulate until such time as I figured it would subside: Midnight PST. The outpouring of emails has been tremendous and it shows that people really can come together and help others. This has become a resource page where information is placed in alphabetical order. I received one email that requested "top placement"; that's not what this is for at all. This order is fair to everyone. Where I received a press release or a specific request, I made a separate blog post.) Haiti's an impoverished nation that is asking for fiscal help in the wake of the terrible destruction from th

I just saw this in the SFEater blog and had to laugh: The Year in Eater continues in full force! Single Best Meals, Top Newcomers, Top Standbys and The Year in One Word were revealed earlier, and all will be answered by the time we turn off the lights on Thursday. Responses are related in no particular order; all are cut, pasted and unedited herein: ...Lissa Doumani, Terra/Ame: I don't know if it is best but it is certainly the fastest expanding, Oakland This is what vexes Oaklanders like myself. Oakland is itself a collection of neighborhoods, from Glenview to Adams Point, and North Oakland, Rockridge, and East Oakland. To take the whole City of Oakland, all 400,000 people, and all 56.1 square miles, and think of all of it as nothing more than a mere neighborhood to San Francisco shows just how little people in the Bay Area know about Oakland. This, well, ignorance, causes the media to just list crime in Oakland rather than where in Oakland the crime happened. All of

It's good that Oaklanders are responding to the Oakland Parking Enforcement Reform Initiative , but it's not in any way my idea. There are aspects of the proposal I do not agree with, but that's not my role as I elected to participate in the process. My desire is to see a policy-formation process started that leads to some meaningful change in our parking law and enforcement system. That process is starting.   It's easy to argue.  Anyone can do it and it takes little thought.  It takes less energy to destroy than to create. But it take a lot of thought and patience to work to bring disparate ideas of different people together.   There are more people out there who want change than those who don't. And I have to laugh at the one's who say "I follow the laws.." because that's not the point. They really tend to be selfish and refuse to try and think beyond themselves. This just in: it's not about you. It's about protecting Oak

The Oakland Parking Enforcement Reform Initiative is gaining steam.  I've been asked to now make public our efforts, so this blog post is to get things rolling. Which is a weird consideration because they've been rolling along already! A group of concerned Oakland citizens have been meeting and communicating to fashion a comprehensive Oakland Parking Enforcement Reform Initiative for presentation to Oakland voters in 2010. The diverse team consists of both Oakland business owners and residents and I'm really, frankly, surprised at how smooth and easy our meetings and communications have been. Oaklanders are used to disparate groups not being able to see eye-to-eye on even the smallest issues; not so here. Yes, there are disagreements, but they tend to come to a rapid end. It's really cool to be a part of. Everyone involved has been energized to act - if even to just be kept 'in the loop' and provide informal feedback – because in some way large

Kwanzaa is a seven-day celebration of family, community, and culture. It's an African American holiday; born of the first harvest celebrations of Africa. In a custom similar to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa is marked by candle-lighting and gift giving. This Kwanzaa opening ceremony was held at Youth Uprising in Oakland in 2009: Greg Hodge, who ran for Oakland's District Three City Council seat in 2008, is also Minister Greg Hodge of Wo'se Church in Oakland. In this video , he talks about the importance of language and names in Kwanzaa. Greg, as usual, offers great words of wisdom: If you're looking for a good guide for the preparation of Kwanzaa-related cuisine, check out the new website Cuisine Noir . Stay tuned and Happy Kwanzaa!

Oakland lawyer turns Oakland artist - Thomas McDonnell Just when Charlie Sheen, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, and Michael Jackson's doctors need him, Thomas McDonnell, a well-known Oakland, California criminal defense attorney every bit as good as Gloria Allred, quit the practice. Thomas McDonnell Thomas is now a digital artist (and very happy) specializing in creating art using scanners. But why McDonnell - who comes from a family of lawyers, based in Oakland and the San Francisco Bay Area – quit practicing law is a fascinating story. I know a lot of lawyers - from Oakland City Attorney John Russo and Personal Injury Lawyer Robert G. Shock, to Alameda County Counsel Richard Winnie and Peralta Community College Chancellor Elihu Harris - and many talk about what they like and dislike about the practice. Quite a few quit. Some go into politics; others take a completely different turn. That's Thomas. I met with my friend and fellow singer at The Alley on Grand Ave

Pernell Harris, a friend of mine and a fixture in the Oakland fitness community and in the Oakland entertainment community, passed away today, Christmas morning, in his sleep. He was 40 years old. Pernell Harris Pernell starred in the Fox Television Series 24 in 2001 as 'Agent Harris'. In my video interview in 2006 , Pernell talks about his experience working with the cast of 24 including Kiefer Sutherland: Pernell was Assistant General Manager at Gold's Gym on Grand Avenue in Oakland, and worked as a Sales Manager at 24-Hour Fitness in downtown Oakland. Harris was also a singer. in 2006, he released an a album called Say-No-ism and which you can hear all of the tracks here. Pernell was a good man who will be missed by many.

I received an email from Sean Sullivan who's on the board of directors of the Oakland-based Khadafy Foundation for Non-Violence, regarding a breakfast this Friday, December 18th 2009. The event, called the Chicken & Waffle Holiday Breakfast, starts at 8am and goes until 10 am, and is something that you should attend. It's just $25 per person and the ticket goes to the foundations' work. The founder of the organization is Marilyn Washington Harris, who lost her 18-year old son, Khadafy on my birthday - August 4th, 2000 - as he was just riding his bike in West Oakland. Ms. Harris channeled her grief into the creation of Khadafy Foundation for Non-Violence to provide support services to anyone who's lost a child or loved one to violence.  Marilyn Washington Harris I think Sean already expressed it better than I can in his communication to me; here's what he wrote: Seasons Greetings, As the holiday season approaches, this will not be a merry time fo

I received this email from Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' Oakland Community Task Force late Sunday night: Hear Mayor Dellums report on stimulus funding (some of which will fund task force-related recommendations). Oakland has received $65 million in stimulus funding, including half from competitive grants. A preliminary review of selected cities indicates that this makes Oakland second after Chicago (my emphasis) in the amount of competitive funding received. And Oakland is not, by any means, the second largest city. Congratulations to the Mayor, the wonderful city staff led by task force member Margaretta Lin, and other task force members who participated in the planning process and grant writing. Ok. Great.  The Mayor's giving a City Council report tonight on Economic Stimulus money to Oakland for ...$65 million?  Wow.  But here's the question: where are the jobs? Oakland is a city of just around 400,000 people; the Chicago Metro area's about 4 millio

The Associated Press' material can be a howler at times. The latest funny was this title: "Tiger Woods alienates black community with white lovers" which was conceived and written by a writer at the AP who presents his take on what the "Black Community" is and who represents it by turning to the old mainstream media standard, the legendary Tom Joyner. Now, I love Tom Joyner, so it's not his fault; I'm aiming at the AP's 39-year-old Jesse Washington , who, while African American, has no idea what the "Black Community" is. Jesse Washington In a time when interracial dating is common, and black women with white men in commercials are more common than the opposite, its downright silly to complain about Tiger Woods' choice of female companions, blonde, brunette, or polka-dot, Rachel Uchitel, Jaimie Grubbs, Jamie Jungers, Kamile Moquin, Cori Rist, or Mindy Lawton. Besides, why would any woman regardless of color want to be compare

The Oakland Adams Point Action Council, a group of neighbors that live in the Adams Point area next to Lake Merritt, is having its Holiday Party Tuesday, December 8th at 7 PM the Bellevue Club 525 Bellevue Avenue. They're asking you to bring cookies and other "nibbles" to share, but come-on. It's a holiday party, so someone bring spiked egg nog and grilled chicken. There's a Kentucky Fried Chicken nearby on Lake Park, right next to the Grand Lake Theater, for goodness sakes!

April Ryan, a reporter with American Urban Radio Networks , bumped the Tiger Woods scandal down Google Trends and for something I didn't think would reach the collective public media radar, an exchange with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs posted on YouTube by the conservative blog TownHall.com: The issue that April Ryan's asking about is White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers' role in the State Dinner Partygate Scandal where Tareq and Michaele Salahi gained access to the exclusive affair without being on the White House' Official Guest List. April Ryan of American Urban Networks April Ryan was trying to ask Robert Gibbs why Desiree Rogers was at the dinner. Desiree Rogers is the White House Social Secretary who planned the event. But Ryan says that Washington gossip centers around the perception that Desiree Rogers is just working to advance her own interests. What's of concern to me is Robert Gibbs' mistake of talking down to April

There have been YouTube Meetups, but never one in America's most exciting city, Oakland, California. The Oakland YouTube Meetup at Lake Chalet at 1520 Lakeside Drive in Oakland, and is on Saturday, December 12th 2009 from 2 PM to 5:30 PM. What's the plan?  To meet, eat, and video!  But the idea is to meet YouTubers from all over and especially Oakland, San Francisco, and Northern California.   But it's also a party for non-YouTubers to learn more about how YouTube and YouTubers can help promote their business; you learn by watching us in action and mingling!  It's also a YouTube contest with prizes for the person who uploads their video the fastest.  Join me and other YouTubers like Sarah Austin for a cool event in a really awesome place: Lake Chalet: Visit our Facebook page here . More information to come, but contact me Zennie62 at zennie@zennie62.com

If, like me, you're wondering what the newest information on the Parkway Theater is, well, according to the "i like the parkway" website forum, there's no news - but that's news. If you need a refresher, this video explains what happened to The Parkway Theater: And this video covered the first community meeting: And this is my video interview of former Parkway owners and founders Catherine and Kyle Fisher: This is the communication that was released recently: Dear friends of the Parkway Theater, We hope you're well. We've missed you. It's been a while since we've given an update on the status of the Parkway, so we'd like to share the information we have about the on-going efforts to get a new business opened there. As we approach the time of year where friends and family are a central theme, the organizers of I Like The Parkway are reminded that we have found both in the eclectic group of movie-lovers united through the