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Transbay Transit Center Construction Update: Nov 18th To Nov 22nd 2013

This is the latest in the weekly construction update for the Transbay Transit Center.  The giant complex which will serve as the new transit hub for much of the Bay Area will be finished in 2017. Here's the latest construction updates: Weekday Work ( 11/18/13 – 11/22/13 ):  Night Shift: Transit Center Construction Activity: Western Transit Center Site (Between First and Second Streets ):  Construction of the Transbay Transit Center is underway and is scheduled Monday through Friday between the hours of 6:00 AM to 6:30 PM . However; materials delivery (reinforcing steel) is scheduled daily between  3:00 AM and 5:00 PM . General maintenance of equipment, material deliveries and clean-up will also be performed between the hours of 3:00 PM to 11:30 PM . Trucks and equipment will enter and exit from the construction gates located on Howard Street (between First and Second Streets) and at First Street (between Mission and Howard Streets). Central

Grand Av Oakland Bar & Restaurant Scene Picks Up In 2013

The Grand Avenue Bar & Restaurant scene has really picked up in 2013. The latest addition, Penrose, opens today with a beer party at 6 PM at 3311 Grand. That's next to Monkey Road Cafe and on the opposite of it, but the same side of the street, there's The Alley. Across the street is The Boot and Shoe Restaurant, The Lucky Lounge, Connie's (awesome burritos), Ordinaire (a new wine bar), Samurai Sushi, and past the Boot and Shoe there's iKaros, Bankok Palace, and Neecha Thai. On the other side of Grand from Neecha Thai is Yang Chow Restaurant (which delivers good chinese food). If you want great deep dish pizza, then head up Grand past Elwood to The Star. If you want the best Vietnamese Food there's Miss Saigon, on the same side of the street as The Alley, and next to Smitty's Bar. There are even more great eateries like Grand Lake Terrace, and Camino even further up Grand, too. What's interesting is that for all the talk about Oakl

Oakland Dumping Still A Large Problem, Look At Euclid

Oakland Dumping is still a large, giant problem, and all one has to do is walk along Euclid Avenue starting from Grand Avenue and then to Adams to see what I mean. People leave everything from mattresses and couches to large pillows and stereo equipment. The amount of stuff just dumped on the sidewalk is so large at times, it's horrible. Just go over to 362 Euclid Avenue today and see what I mean. There is the largest single Oakland Dump I have ever seen right there. And it's the same one that I featured in this November 7th video: And in an upcoming video, I go along Euclid and show you a murderers-row of dumping examples. You can just stand on the sidewalk and look down the street - it's all over the place. If you see dumping like this, take a picture of it, and post it on Twitter with the hashtags #Oakland #Dumping. Stay tuned.

Damon Bruce Of KNBR Suspended Indefinitely For Anti-Women Comments

Damon Bruce with women who aren't sportscasters. Damon Bruce, a popular sports talk radio show host in the San Francisco Bay Area and for KNBR Radio, has been suspended indefinitely for his anti-woman ranting of last week. Mr. Bruce seems to think that a woman's place is not in the sports world. For more on the action, which was just made public 40 minutes ago today, Sunday, November 10th, go to Zennie62.com, here: KNBR’s Damon Bruce Suspended Indefinitely For Anti-Women Comments - http://www.zennie62blog.com/2013/11/10/knbrs-damon-bruce-suspended-indefinitely-for-anti-women-comments-15163/

Libby Schaaf For Mayor Of Oakland?

Libby Schaaf I have it from several sources that Oakland City Councilmember Libby Schaaf (District Four) is considering a run for Mayor of Oakland. This is a fresh rumor that come up on Tuesday while this blogger was at two different events. It flies in the face of her original claim that she wasn’t ready to do so. In fact, Schaaf is set to run for re-election to her current District 4 Council Seat, so the rumor that she would run for Mayor comes as a bit of a surprise to this blogger. Plus, she’s a mother of two wonderful children and her husband Sal has held down the fort while Libby has worked in service to Oakland, so I would think he’s the ultimate decider in this case. Personally, I told Libby she should run for Mayor five years ago, so I think she could be very effective if she were elected. But she’s got two major road blocks in the form of current fiscal front-runner and my favorite Bryan Parker, Joe Tuman , who’s an equally formidable candidate, and the incumbent, Oakl

Oakland Non-Profits Need Volunteers. Find Yourself

Find Yourself By: Robert A. Wilkins, CEO and President, YMCA of the East Bay “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others,” said Mohandas K. Gandhi.   As he was with so many things, Mahatma Gandhi was right.   Volunteering makes a difference, not only in someone else’s life, but also in your own. I should know.   My organization – The YMCA of the East Bay – has helped a lot of people find themselves over the years.   Without volunteers, we could not exist.   Nor could countless other nonprofits.   Last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 64.5 million people volunteered through, or for, an organization at least once.   If you are one of those 64.5 million, you can, if you wish, stop reading now.   You already made a difference. But if you are one of the 73 percent of the population who didn’t volunteer to help a community group, a church, a nonprofit, a school or other organization at least once last year, you need to read on a

San Francisco Waterfront Prop B and C: Vote Yes

The San Francisco Waterfront’s very history is said to hang in the balance with Proposition B and Proposition C, but the reality is anything but that. The truth is that only one proposed development is impacted by the vote this Tuesday, and that is 8 Washington. 8 Washington will add 134 luxury condominiums on a 3.2-acre lot which currently contains a tennis club I’ve played at many times and is roughly the same land size of our home grounds in Georgia. 8 Washington sits near to the Grand Hyatt Hotel and Justin Herman Plaza, and several condo developments just roughly 80 feet behind it. All 8 Washington does is fill in a kind of weird donut hole of airspace and land. That’s it. Look, a yes vote on B or C has zero to do with any growth agenda for San Francisco – nothing. It will not solve the affordable housing problem overnight, either (Sorry, it won’t and it’s time to be honest about that, too.) It’s just one development – and in point of fact, there’s room along the San Franc

Oakland To Get Shakewell: Second “Top Chef” Restaurant

Jen Biesty and Tim Nugent According to Zennie62.com, Shakewell, when it opens at the current Mezze space at 3407 Lakeshore Ave, will be the second “Top Chef” restaurant in Oakland, and a sign that our city’s presence as a foodie capital is only growing. “Top Chef” restaurants are those owned and founded by alumns of the “Top Chef” television show. Foodies around the World make special stops at these eateries when they visit major cities, and one friend of mine has a co-worker she travels with and who keeps a personal list of their locations. So when she’s in Atlanta, she’s already made reservations at a “Top Chef” place. In Oakland, of course, the first Top Chef restaurant is owned by Preeti Mistry and is the Juhu Beach Club at 5179 Telegraph Ave in the Temescal District. Shakewell is the name of what will replace Mezze and is owned by chef Jen Biesty and pastry chef Tim Nugent. Shakewell raised much of its funding via a Kickstarter initiative that combined 443 donors and took

Hillsdale Shopping Center Halloween Spooktacular 5-7 PM, Thursday

Local children and their families are invited to a Halloween “Spook”tacular event at Hillsdale Shopping Center! Hillsdale is at 60 31st Avenue, San Mateo, California. To kick-off the festivities, participating stores will hand out treats to costumed children ages 12 and under from 5-6 p.m. Kids will also enjoy Halloween themed special events including a “Frankenswine” performance by Puppet Arts, Comedy Magic show by Count Dracula, balloon twisting, crafts and spooky science projects hosted by Mad Science of the Bay Area. For more information: 650-345-8222.

Oakland City Council Considering Redistricting Maps 18, 21-28

The Oakland City Council is to take up the annually thorny issue of city council district boundary changes, or what’s called “redistricting.” Tonight, as I sit here at Oakland City Council, there nine different scenarios the City Council has been asked to consider: Maps 18 and 21 through 28. What follows is a summary, based on what was written at the website at the City of Oakland’s webpage by the planning and zoning department. Map 18: “At the October 3, 2013 Rules and Legislation Committee of the City Council, the consultant produced a map, based on Map #17, which proposes the Maxwell Park neighborhood be combined into District 4; Map #18 proposes changes to Districts 5 and 6 which balance the population changes resulting from Maxwell Park being combined into District 4. Also, Map #18 shows Broadway Terrace as the boundary between Districts 1 and 4, which it was in 1993; and the map leaves the current border between Districts 1 & 3 the same as it is today: the Mosswood neighbo

Lake Merritt/Uptown & Downtown Oakland CBDs' Senior Citizen Task Force Members Honored by YMCA of the East Bay

Oakland, CA – October 28, 2013 – Recently, Paul Tutwiler & Mabel Hom of the  Downtown Oakland  and  Lake Merritt/Uptown  community benefit districts’ Senior Citizen Task Force, recently renamed R.O.A.R, Resources for Oakland’s Active Retirees, were awarded the YMCA of the East Bay’s “You are the Difference” award at the Y’s 134 th  annual meeting and volunteer recognition ceremony. Last June, Tutwiler, among others, contacted the Downtown Oakland & Lake Merritt/Uptown CBDs to suggest a collaboration between the districts and local seniors.  Their goal was to get local seniors involved in the community by organizing weekly walks, beautification projects, recreational activities and more.  Since then, the program has proved to be a great success. “It’s nice to see Paul, Mabel and the senior citizen task force getting the recognition they deserve.  Together, we are happy to have been able to organize a great program for our local seniors to get involved in the districts

In Sonoma, California, Artesa Winery Comes Out Fighting

Artesa Winery Artesa Winery, which has perhaps the most breath-taking winery in California, has come out fighting in a Sonoma Coast California property battle against Friends of the Gualala River. Artesa Winery is fighting to improve and protect a neglected Sonoma, California property in the face of strident opposition from a controversial local group, Friends of the Gualala River. Sonoma County is a place known both for its excellent wine and its natural beauty. But, the conversation has turned ugly over the effort by one well-regarded winery to renovate part of an abandoned Sonoma property into a vineyard and preserve and protect remainder of it. Artesa Vineyard and Winery has owned the 324 acre property since 1999 when it purchased the lot with the intention to use it to grow Pinot Noir. The property has fallen into disrepair since it was used as an apple orchard in the early 1960’s. In 2009 Artesa submitted a proposal to convert 173 acres of this former orchard into v

Oakland FitnessSF: Man Harasses Couple Over Equipment

At Oakland FitnessSF , a man who's name I will leave out of this, harassed a couple over, of all things, how the woman was about to use a machine at the Grand Avenue facility, and the idea that he was supposed to use it before her just because he says he was a gym member for a longer period of time. I'm not kidding.  I can't believe I saw it. But as I was doing chest presses with weights, a I overheard an angry man behind me talking loudly to a man and woman (who I also know, and I'm leaving their names out of it) behind me. The angry man (Angry Man, from here on) was upset that the woman was about to use a clasp device to place on the top bar of a machine that's designed such that one can also pull weights from either side toward the person's body, or just do arm-focused lifts. The Angry Man was not even near the machine at first - he was clear over on the other side of the gym's second floor. But as soon as she started to use the machine, and he

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan's Got An Issue With Oakland's "Black City" Image

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said this to the National Journal’s Sophie Quinton: “And so, you asked me what my challenge is. Well, my challenge is to let people know what the new Oakland looks like. Somebody just sent me an email saying, ‘Oh, you should have more black police since more than 50 percent of your residents are black.’ And I’m like, ‘Actually, no, 28 percent of my residents are black, but we’re pretty evenly divided between blacks, whites, Latinos, and Asians these days.’ But that’s their image of Oakland–and this is somebody who lives in the Bay Area.” (National Journal, October 6, 2013) In other words Quan’s saying ‘I don’t want you to think Oakland’s a black town’ because that’s a bad thing. Really? So it was bad for Oakland to be a city that elected a black Mayor in Lionel Wilson early on, and back in the 70s? It was bad for Oakland to have been the home of the Black Filmmakers’s Hall Of Fame? Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Thinks Black Oakland

Dr Death, Oakland Raiders Fan, Gives Impassioned Coliseum City Support Speech

Dr. Death, the epitome of Oakland Raiders Black Hole fandom, came to the Oakland City Council (along with about 60 other Raiders fans), and gave a classic, passionate speech imploring the elected officials to support the extension of the Coliseum City ENA. Look at it, because it's not likely you're going to see a presentation like this one for some time. Or until Summer of 2014.