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I wrote this piece on why Batts and other chiefs often don’t last long in that job. Though Batts may be staying, the issues remain. Local pundits, Chip Johnson and Tammerlin Drummond, have weighed in on why they think Anthony Batts wants to leave his post as our new Chief of Police. I’m confused by some of the assumptions they make when trying to second guess the Chief. For one, Drummond and Johnson seem to think that Oakland is suffering from more severe budget problems than other cities. But we also know that San Jose came very close to laying off over a hundred of its officers last year before the San Jose Police Officers Association offered to share in pension costs. If you read the news about San Jose today, you will find that continued budget woes are causing their mayor to consider imposing police layoffs again. Secondly, Johnson and Drummond like to promote the idea that Mayor Jean Quan has always had a “testy relationship” with the police so that’s why Batts might be thinking

Oakland City Councilmember Jane Brunner (District 1 - North Oakland) is unfortunately just plain wrong in her comments on Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts, and shows why many say there has been a "leadership void" that Oakland's elected officials have not effectively filled. This is what Cecily Burt quoted Councilmember Brunner as saying in The Oakland Tribune regarding why Batts elected to try and leave Oakland: "I don't even know if that is the reason. We don't know if there are other issues, it's not clear...He is very popular, we think he is a good chief, but in my opinion, he needs to want to be here. And if there are things that are preventing him from wanting to stay, he needs to be in the room to have that discussion...If he's going to stay, he needs to work with us as a team." No. Councilmember Brunner has it backwards.   It's her job to make sure working conditions are excellent for a person who is essentially one of her

California Governor Jerry Brown is known for attacking sacred cows but sometimes he does so without a clear vision of the real objective and how to achieve it. Such is the case with California Redevelopment Agencies (CRAs), which Brown wants to do away with as part of his State of California Proposed Budget. Governor Brown thinks the move will return $1.7 billion to the general funds of California cities; but such a claim shows Brown doesn't understand Redevelopment, how it works, and what it's supposed to do.  The real objective of returning $1.7 billion will not be done in the way he says, and for several reasons. First, California Redevelopment is designed such that it allows cities to establish redevelopment areas to keep property taxes. And contrary to popular view, redevelopment revenues from project areas can be used to provide services in those project areas. Many cities have done this, including Oakland. Indeed, California Redevelopment Law was used by the C

Pork Loin at Plum in Oakland , originally uploaded by zennie62 . Last night, I paid a visit to the new Plum Restaurant on Franklin near Broadway. It's a new addition to the Uptown Oakland food scene, joining Luka's, Osumo, Pican, Vo's, and Bakesale Beattie's, as well as Farley's Cafe and forming a nexus of food places at Broadway and Grand. Now, I'm not a restaurant reviewer. In fact, I was spurred to try Plum because of Michael Bauer's review at SFGate.com. Plus, living in Oakland, I think its important to support Oakland business whenever I can. Now, I've got to put this in perspective. The Pan-Roasted Half Chicken at The Wood Tavern is the best in the SF Bay Area. It's a 23 dollar meal that will more than fill you up; you'll have to take some of it home. I asked what the most filling dish at Plum would be and the patron next to me recommended the Pork. So I ordered it. I inhaled it. It's $18 and yet is the size of a small

This edition of Oakland News has a lot of information for you. First, if you've ever eaten at the North Oakland restaurant called Wood Tavern at 6317 College Avenue (with the best half-chicken in Oakland, if not the SF Bay Area), then you'll be able to picture it's new spring-off called "Southy." Why that name? Because it's going to be right next door and south of The Wood Tavern. Set to open in about 10 days, Southy's going to cater to a younger crowd. There's going to be a sliding door to deliver take out orders, to which I suggest offering sliders to go with that slider! Also, on the Oakland / College Avenue restaurant gossip beat, if you're wondering how some eateries are doing, I understand that one of them, once a large, popular place this blogger visited regularly, eventually fell off and started "floating" its liquor accounts. Let's say you own a restaurant in Oakland. As I understand it, if you purchase beer, you

In this San Francisco News, construction of The Transbay Terminal is under way. This space will have updates from the newsletter of the Transbay Terminal organization. If you're wondering what this is all about, the idea of a new transportation terminal in downtown San Francisco started almost 20 years ago. It culminated in this design competition: From the newsletter of The Transbay Terminal organization: This week at Transbay... Weekend Work (1/7/11 - 1/9/11): This weekend, work will take place on Saturday, between the hours 7:00 AM and 11:00 PM. The contractors will move the crane known as “Big Red” into the west portion of the old Terminal footprint in order to continue demolition of the West Terminal building. Weekday Work: Weekday work between Monday, January 10, 2011 and Friday, January 14, 2011 will focus on the demolition of the West Terminal building using the wrecking ball. Work began on Thursday, January 6, 2011 to demolish the ramp between Howard and Natoma an

Oakland, CA: Live From The Fox - Today's a special day in the City of Oakland, because Jean Quan, formerly District 4 Councilmember, then the (to some) surprising new Mayor-Elect of Oakland after beating front-runner Don Perata thanks to Ranked Choice Voting, today becomes Mayor of Oakland. Quan started the day with a walk from Chinatown through Oakland, and ending at the Fox Theater, where we are for the inauguration ceremonies. She held an inpromptu "thank you" chat with supporters and onlookers in front of the Fox, and was joined by Assemblyman Sandre Swanson. Sandre, a protege of former Congressman and now outgoing Mayor Ron Dellums, issued what in retrospect, was the first sign that Dellums wasn't going to run for reelection: he announced his support for Quan. Moreover, Sandre's support for Jean never wavered. Now, today, he looks like a proud papa, grinning from ear-to-ear. Libby Schaaf, Pat Kernighan, and Courtney Ruby Take Office Today's

On October 7th, 2010, Oakland's Tiki Tom's Restaurant burned down in a blaze of fire that rang up an estimated $750,000 worth of building damage. There was, and still as of this writing, no known cause of the fire. According to several sources, the building was chain locked, and while the power had been turned off, PG&E reported it wasn't their doing. The fire was officially labeled "suspicious." Everything was burned, including the boat, a Tampa 66 Chris Craft according to Tom Davies AKA "Tiki Tom", docked on the Oakland Estuary, and in back of the eatery. The restaurant that was located at 329 29th Avenue with the frog on top was at the center of what it's owner, "Tiki Tom" called "The Oakland Riviera" during a video tour. This blogger was taken there the day before my 48th birthday on August 4th, and by long-time friends Bob and Barbara Schock, who are new Oakland District Four Councilmember Libby Schaaf'

This year, 2010, once again this blogger is following (kinda) the Santa Tracker, but while tree trimming, wine drinking, and talking, and listening to Nat and Frank (Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra).  But here's my NORAD Santa Tracker Video, because I just had to! This business of going to the NORAD website to track Santa Claus' trip around the World is rather cool, but I'm in the middle of watching It's A Wonderful Life , so I decided to embed the tracker right here in my blog: As of 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST, Santa Claus is , well, he's moving really fast! (If the embed doesn't work in your browser, click on the NORAD link.) Merry Christmas!

Sad news. According to the San Jose Mercury News , veteran Oakland City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente (pictured) was arrested for DUI (Driving Under the Influence) Thursday night at 7:30 PM. Nacho was arrested, booked, released, and given a future court date to appear. The CHP (California Highway Patrol) Officer said something that can and should do him in, in court: that "he believed De La Fuente was speeding" and that the officer "noticed impairment." So, let's see here. First, the CHP officer didn't have a speed gun to have evidence to back his claim of speeding. Second, the officer didn't have a Breathalyzer to record Ignacio's blood - alcohol level to back his claim that Ignacio was "impaired." What the hell was this CHP officer doing?  No speed gun.  No Breathalyzer.  And he just hauls Ignacio in, anyway.  Near Christmas.   Nuts. I don't care - not a big rats butt - if it happens to everyone; it's not su

Merry Christmas Oakland! Normally, this would be a "top 10" list, but we have so many well deserving Oaklanders, and people who do business in Oakland, that I expanded it to 21. Why 21? Because once I started thinking about who deserves an Oakland Christmas Gift, the list just kept going on and on. It's the by-product of knowing a lot of people in this town. A lot of people who deserve positive recognition. I could have gone on to 40, but had to cut it off at some point. Here's the list! 1. For former Oakland Mayor and now California Governor-Elect Jerry Brown: patience and focus. He's going to need both. 2. For Oakland Teachers: $500 more per teacher, per month. That would help many, many well-deserving and hard working teachers in Oakland. 3. For Mayor-Elect Jean Quan: A Green Oakland Mayor's Bus so she can travel free of parking ticket worry, and get around in a socially-responsible way! 4. For Al Davis and The Oakland Raiders: A N

Presenting the Santa Baby 99ers Christmas Unemployment Song , or The Santa Baby 99ers Song , on Christmas Eve. Donalee King (in photo from Zennie62.com), who goes by Paladinette, at Zennie62.com , created this variation of the classic Christmas Song Santa Baby. King, a blogger who also has her own blog called Jobless Unite ,  is one of the so-called "99ers," those who's unemployment benefits have ran out after the 99-week limit, and seek an extension of benefits, or better yet, a job. In seeking both, the San Diego resident has become a tireless advocate for the jobless. Her work on this song landed her notice by the LA Times . The video is below, followed by the lyrics, which are graphic but worth reading and singing...if you dare! (In fact, if you're in Oakland, California, print out the lyrics, take them down to The Alley at 3325 Grand Avenue , present them to Rod Dibble at the piano, and ask he would accompany you in song. Santa Baby is a song he k

Festivus, that annual celebration for the rest of us, is upon us, once again. But in 2010 Festivus just don't feel like, well, Festivus. The idea was first introduced in Seinfeld, Jerry Seinfeld's long-running television comedy, as an alternative to what some perceive as the commericialization of Christmas. But this time, Festivus doesn't feel like Festivus, and maybe that's because the idea was started by a long-cancelled TV show, rather than a religious event? At any rate, I know Festivus isn't as huge this year, because Mediaite's not mentioning it at all. Last year, the online media watchdog publication had a Mediaite Festivus of the top 50 media influencers in 2009, and that I talked about in my vlog here: This year, zip.  Nada. And while Festivus is a Google Trend, some of the blogs and articles don't seem to be focused on it in the title heading.  Festivus is more the day that, say, an NFL football game is being played. I think AOL

There's so much going on in Oakland, it's hard to represent it all in just one blog post.  The Oakland City Council approves use of up to $750,000 for an environmental study for a baseball stadium for The Oakland A's.  The City of Oakland sues three sub-standard hotels said to be prostitution dens.   The Oakland Raiders get ready to host The Indianapolis Colts.  It's all here, and more.   A newsletter is just a static report, too. So how does one best capture all that's happening in Oakland? A Twitter Tweet stream like the one below. What's neat is you can see the changing news scene in Oakland, as well as what's happening off the mainstream media path. Check it out: Read more: http://www.technixupdate.com/add-display-twitter-tweets-stream-to-website-or-blog/#ixzz18tKNeew3

Ok, Rosati's Pizza is the best in my World, but what's the difference between it and Zachary's Pizza? As this blogger writes this post, it's Tuesday morning at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near O'Hare Airport. It's snowing outside. And I'm looking at the remains of a Rosati's Deep Dish Pizza I ordered last night. I grew up in Chicago, so Zachary's Pizza in Oakland's a welcome reminder of Chicago-style pizza. That is, until you've had Chicago-style pizza. The difference between the Rosati's Pizza and Zachary's Pizza? The sausage. The Rosati's Deep Dish Pizza has that insanely great Italian sausage and a lot of it and in large portions. That's it. Really. That's it.   Other than that, So, come on Zachary's Pizza in Oakland, up that Italian sausage count!

Well, here's another blog post in the annals of Zennie's air travels: stuck at O'Hare Airport (again), but this time in a Crowne Plaza where the room phone doesn't work. That's right: this blogger can't call out or in. Thankfully cell phone and Twitter make up for the phone fail. What happened was United Airlines flight UA 102 made it to Chicago from San Francisco and landed in what at first was a relatively typical snow for Chicagoland. That was 6:12 PM CST; as the night got older the snow got worse, and eventually O'Hare took on the look of The North Pole, complete with sightings of Santa Claus outside. And, yes, the weather outside was somewhat frightful. A good 24 degrees. Yes, it's been colder than that with the wind-chill, but the snow's snarling travel. And as is my generally bad luck, the connecting flight I was to get on to Atlanta was delayed. And then delayed. And then the United gate reps explained the airplane we were t

The first review of TRON from this space was more about its similarities with 2001 A Space Odyssey , and called Tron Legacy: 2010: A Digital Odyssey , and why it was disturbing to this blogger.   But this is to explain that TRON is a good movie, not a great one, but good, and that you should see it at The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, CA. The Grand Lake Theater, at Grand Avenue and Lake Park Ave near Oakland's Lake Merritt, has existed since 1926 and features an enormous main viewing room that represents the best of the old theaters. The friends I saw it with thought TRON was outstanding and, as the video shows, would definitely see it again. However, the 3D element was disappointing. Again, converting a 2D movie to 3D is something that should be done with care and consideration. It had to add something to the film experience. The TRON 3D effects don't add much to the film. I was constantly moving my 3D glasses up and off and back over my eyes again to tel

This video blogger talked with Oakland City Attorney John Russo about his response to a video featuring Michael Siegel of the Oakland civil rights law firm Siegel and Lee , and the focus of a blog entry of last week. One that got under the skin of Russo and his assistant Alex Katz. Within two days, John and Alex called to ask for this blogger to come and conduct a video interview to get their side of the Oakland Gang Injunction issue. The result is the 20 minute video. In 2010 Oakland became the third city in the San Francisco Bay Area to implement injunctions against a specific set of street gangs, the North Oakland Crime Organization and another called The , which, according to Russo, is a terribly violent gang. What Is A Gang Injunction? To start, we got out of the way just what a gang injunction is. "A gang injunction is a civil court order that the city pursues against a uh, known criminal enterprise," Russo said. "It's defined, the term "gang"

Yelp has become the go-to site for ratings on businesses of all types, including the "City of Oakland Parking Service System." That's everything from the Parking Department Office at City Hall Plaza, to the parking enforcement employees on the street, and everyone in between. The collective gets a nice "one-star" rating on Yelp . And the comments are something to read. Here's a sample: Several weeks ago I received a parking ticket for parking at an expired meter in Oakland. When I went to pay it today, I was surprised to see another citation that was past due associated with my license number... Then I remembered: many months ago, I found a parking ticket on my car when I failed to move it for street sweeping. The next day, I tried to pay for said ticket, both online, and using the over-the-phone method. Neither worked. Several days later, I tried once more to pay the ticket, again to no avail. I was told several times that no such ticket existed in t

This is yet another email sent to this blogger about the Oakland Parking problem. From the way it reads, Oakland, CA's predatory parking practice (say that three times fast), where the city aggressively tickets and tows cars, is still with us. Hello, I am speaking out because this just started this past Tuesday. Please see all the pictures and my letter to the Parking Citation place. thank you.There are 6 - 12 cars parked here 7 days per week. i have lived here for 6.5 years and NEVER gotten a ticket here until NOW. we all are getting tickets daily. Double Parking in a Culdesac? this is unjust. how do we fight this now? How sad that the City Of Oakland would stoop this low to get money. and calling the number to get help is a waste of time. Please let me know if you can help or what we can do. There are a few of us here in the neighborhood that are disabled. AND people who work and visit people at Highland Hospital park here. they also get tickets. hmm.. the parking people ON