Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

This is a video of a typical day on the "57" Bus line ran by AC Transit and which runs through the heart of Oakland from the San Leandro Boarder to North Oakland. This captures the crowd of students that use the bus to get home. In the days before Prop-13, AC Transit had special student-only buses that served Skyline High, where I went to school, and other places. Maybe they still do, and this isn't a normal bus. I guess I drive too much. Here's the video:

I was presented with this letter below by a friend who works at a local establishment on E. 18th Street. I later saw this on the Adams Point Yahoo! Message Board. It's about time someone communicated the message of the importance of community in fighting crime, as many people around here don't even know each other's names. The letter also states a painful fact: that Whites are the targets of assault and theft crimes committed by African Americans in the area. For whatever reason that has been true -- but not talked about -- for years. It's got to stop. MUGGINGS ON ATHOL Neighbors, We live on Athol Ave , between the lake and the Parkway. The night before last, as my fiancé made his way home from the theatre at 8:30 pm, two African-American men who had been loitering by the stop sign at Athol and Wayne in front of 228 Athol ran at him across the street and grabbed him. A gun was put to his head, he was choked, dragged down one of these driveways, pistol-whipped, ...

City Council Fireworks Here This is a screen shot of the sponsorship matrix for the upcoming Mayoral Inauguration for Mayor Ron Dellums. The cost range is from $10,000 to $50,000. The second photo shows what benefits each sponsor gets. Actually, the sponsorship package is quite extensive considering the public exposure the event -- or events -- will certainly get. Oh, if you're saying "I can't read this" just double click on the photo itself, then you'll see it full size for viewing. As you can see it lists the different events and the costs of sponsorship. I mean look at it this way, it's not taxpayper dollars they're using. Plus, the Black And White Ball, which I referred to, also had sponsors and an extensive cost list. Yet one could get in for a fee, or just sneak in. Now, some -- including me -- have misunderstood this to mean that the "common folk" can't come, and that doesn't appear to be the case at all; the event pl...

A new tickets exchange just for Bay Area sports and events. Here's the current calendar below, but go to Bay Area Sports and Events for tickets and information. NFL 12/23 Kansas City Chiefs At Oakland Raiders Tickets 12/24 Arizona Cardinals At San Francisco 49ers NBA 12/12 Sacramento Kings At Golden State Warriors 12/14 Houston Rockets At Golden State Warriors 12/26 Philadelphia 76ers At Golden State Warriors 12/29 Boston Celtics At Golden State Warriors 01/06 Seattle Supersonics At Golden State Warriors NCAA Basketball 01/03 California At Stanford Basketball NHL 12/11 Phoenix Coyotes At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/14 Los Angeles Kings At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/16 Anaheim Ducks At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/21 Dallas Stars At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/23 Calgary Flames At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/26 Anahiem Ducks At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/28 Phoenix Coyotes At San Jose Sharks Tickets 01/04 Detroit Red Wings At San Jose Sharks Tickets 01/06 Columbus Blue Jackets At San...

Hey, even if I had $50K, I wouldn't spend it on a party for myself. The Dellums people are planning to spend that much money per donor, up to a half-million dollars. I think this is a terrible way to go. No party should be structured this way. What the Dellums people should do is turn to San Francisco Black and White Ball head Paula Goodrich for advice on what to do. Or just follow her model, which is to take a part of the city, rope it off, erect tents, book bands, get corporate sponsors, and charge a fee. Bingo. That's it. In other words make it an Oakland event for the many, not for the few. Wow. I'm a fan of the Mayor, but what they're doing is the wrong way to go.

by Hiroko Kurihara, Chair, RCPC Land Use Committee At press time, Albertsons was preparing to close their parking lot to the public because of Albertsons LLC and Terranomics’ difficulty in accessing the loading dock and showing the property to prospective tenants and developers. The RCPC Land Use Committee is working closely with Albertsons representatives and Councilmember Brunner’s office to help broker a solution that keeps the lot open and provides designated parking slots for Claremont Middle School teachers. Merchants are concerned about the closure and might be able to help monitor the lot. Regarding ROSS: Dress for Less Stores as a potential new tenant, the Land Use Committee has learned that the Rockridge site is most likely not among the 40 sites under consideration by the company. Nevertheless, we will be sending a letter to senior management at Cerberus Capital, to convey the concerns and preferences for the site expressed at the community meeting last July. We’ll keep you ...

Oakland's Law Corps wins 'profound honor' Organization has dealt with drug dealing cases, including crackdown on liquor stores OAKLAND TRIBUNE Article Last Updated:12/05/2006 02:51:44 AM PST OAKLAND — The National League of Cities on Monday named Oakland one of nine winners of its 2006 award for municipal excellence, honoring the work of the Neighborhood Law Corps. City Attorney John Russo, who founded the organization five years ago, said the city constantly seeks innovative, creative ways to address chronic urban problems. "It's a profound honor to be recognized for such a prestigious award," Russo said. Oakland was also named one of three Gold award winners. Law Corps attorneys, who are usually fresh out of law school, focus on quality-of-life issues and have tackled dozens of cases involving drug dealing and building-code vio-lations. The Law Corps has also led the city's crackdown on liquor stores that blight the community when they provide a haven fo...

"San Francisco Red Sox Fan" points to the East Bay Express article on how the Oakland A"s execs managed to work a deal to -- perhaps -- move to Fremont. The article's just ok. Another typically long piece of work that in this case doesn't get to the heart of the matter of the problem of sports in Oakland. In fact, in this case, the authors seemed to write as if they were looking to talk to "names" rather than determine what really happened. But leave that one to another person. I'm diappointed in their work. It's a wimper, not a bang.

"Black Sheep Girl" complains of the terrible bus service and the "creepy dudes" that hang out at the "Oakland BART" station -- don't know which one, but could be 12th or 19th Street -- so she decides to walk home. All the better to see Lake Merritt. We used to have a shuttle that drove around Lake Merritt; we need it back. It was paid for by the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, when for one moment it really understood what city building was all about.

Wow. I happened to catch this bit of news over at the blog called BiggAndyy, which you can go to with a click on the title of this post. He reports that the awards for Oakland kids turning in their guns are tickets to -- LOL -- a Guns and Roses Concert! What genius came up with that? It's supposed to be some weird pun, get it? Turn in your guns for Guns? It's not something the folks in the neighborhoods would come up with. First, it's just not a good idea -- better to give money. Second, and I'm just gonna haul off and write this, the person who came up with the idea certainly wasn't Black or Latino, and yet the program, let's face it, is aimed at African American neighborhoods in Oakland! What's going on over at the City of Oakland? You gotta wonder. Makes you shake your head.