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I just received this letter copy via email.  It comes on the heels of the news that A's Owner Lew Wolff called Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums to request a meeting regarding keeping the A's in Oakland.  SEN. BOXER WORKS TO KEEP A’S IN OAKLAND Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today sent the following letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig: March 31, 2009 Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner Major League Baseball 245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor New York, NY 10167 Dear Commissioner Selig:             I appreciate the announcement you made yesterday that you are forming a committee to review the various proposals regarding the future of the Oakland Athletics.  As your committee does its work, I urge you to do everything possible to keep the team in Oakland.             As you may know, Oakland has recently gone t...

I have it from a very good source that Oakland Athletics Owner and Managing Partner Lew Wolff called Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums today to request a meeting to "explore options to keep the A's in Oakland".  That's great news and it comes on the heels of Monday's report that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig formed a committee to determine why a baseball stadium deal was not struck in Oakland, and Selig did so with wording that could have been read as a forecast of a move to take the A's out of Oakland.   But Wolff's phone call to Dellums today signals a new start to a recommittment to Oakland by the A's owner.  Meanwhile here's the stadium proposal the Mayor's Task Force saw last Thursday:

The Commissioner of Baseball on Monday announced a new committee devoted to determining the viability of baseball in the East Bay. In his statements Commissioner Bud Selig said that the A's owners have exhausted their efforts in Oakland. But really, they have not. Here's an example in this plan for a new Coliseum baseball stadium on the parking lot land of the facility. The plan, created by architect Frank Dobson and Retail Leasing expert Bob Leste with Oaklander Steve Lowe was first introduced in 2004 and while it was presented to the then-new ownership group and A's Managing Partner Lew Wolff, it went largely ignored by them. Wolff was known to be in love with a concept called a baseball village and needed a lot of land to make that work, hence the Fremont land chase. But the idea called for hundreds of acres of land, more than the A's organization could afford given the economy and so needing public money turned to Fremont, which turned a deaf ear to their request. W...

No sooner after San Francisco Chronicle Columnist Chip Johnson wrote that California Senator Don Perata's running for Mayor of Oakland  , did the written attacks start and right on SF Gate's website.  Here's what's been written in the comment section of Carla Marinucci's column : georgedb 3/31/2009 7:37:49 AM Great. One more 'career' politician as mayor of Oakland. The residents should be just thrilled. Recommend:     ( 10 ) ( 1 ) [Report Abuse] moto1 3/31/2009 8:15:11 AM Sweet! Another criminal in office. Recommend:     ( 5 ) ( 1 ) [Report Abuse] moto1 3/31/2009 8:17:48 AM Isn't that the guy who's wheels were stolen after he stole them from taxpayers? Recommend:     ( 7 ) ( 1 ) [Report Abuse] historybuff 3/31/2009 8:23:03 AM Don Perata has been investigated but never charged; a person is presumed innocent until found guilty by a jury. While not perfect, Perata is at least highly competent and would be a vast improvement over D...

I had to post this because it's a classic example of not taking responsibility for something you did wrong.  The online backup company Carbonite r eportedly lost a lot of client information  : the data of over 7,500 of its customers who trusted it (past tense now) to keep their information in a protected area of cyberspace: a cloud they developed and around which their company is built. Now as long as I've been at this I've always got an earful about "backing up your data" so I would think a company like Carbonite, which is entrusted with protecting data, would be backing up the data they're charged with protecting.  Right? Right? No.  They lost the only data copies they had online, and so now are -- get this -- suing the hardware makers!  If you think that's funny (strange), so do many in the blogsphere, who think as I do.  Take a look at these comments over at TechCrunch  : 1) What happens when you get burgled? We got burgled last week a...

I just spotted the " Don Perata For Mayor " Facebook Group, which as of this writing has just 23 members.  With time it may ramp-up, but just how much and how long is a gauge of Perata's popularity assuming of course the creator knows what he's doing in promoting the site. If another Facebook Group pops up with someone running for Mayor and it has more members, that's a reflection on what could happen should Perata run for Mayor of Oakland. Ok.  Who's in it?  A lot of folks I know.  Here's a sample... Russ Giuntini John Protopappas Robert Harmala Cynthia Lee Phillip Tagami Dan Rush Richard Tamor Now what's interesting is who's not on it.  I don't see John Russo or Aimee Aillson for example.  And the people listed already know each other.  OK, why am I not on it?  I'm not yet sold on Perata as Mayor of Oakland.  Love Don personally, but can he be the change agent Oakland needs?  I talked to one activi...

According to SFist -- I didn't feel a thing because I was sleeping after working until just about 4:30 in the morning -- there was a 4.4 Richter Scale Earthquake today.  Here's the details: Magnitude 4.4 - duration magnitude (Md) Time Monday, March 30, 2009 at 10:40:29 AM (PDT) Monday, March 30, 2009 at 17:40:29 (UTC) Distance from Morgan Hill, CA - 18 km (11 miles) N (7 degrees) Seven Trees, CA - 19 km (12 miles) E (91 degrees) Alum Rock, CA - 20 km (13 miles) ESE (117 degrees) San Jose City Hall, CA - 25 km (16 miles) ESE (104 degrees) Coordinates 37 deg. 17.1 min. N (37.285N), 121 deg. 37.2 min. W (121.620W) Depth 6.2 km (3.9 miles)

Come out April 21st from 6 PM to 9 PM at the Jewish Community Center for "A Night With The Stars" at 3200 California, Street, San Francisco. Call 415-929-2470 x 304 for more information.

I went to the San Francisco Game Developer Conference with my friend Sierra Choi (who did some executive producing work of the whole event) and after the end, I met her to talk about the GDC and -- my idea -- to enjoy a nice day outside at Cafe Americano on the Embarcadero. As we were in the cab we talked about the GDC, Alternernative Reality Games, and Sierra's ego (LOL!) Sierra sees ARG's as not games, which is where we disagree. The point is that any game is designed to get you the player to do something. That's the case with ARG's. Sierra thinks that's more social psychology but my explaination is that concern is central to game making. Again, getting a person to "do a thing" is a central tenant of game making.

This Chicago Police Department car was spotted in San Francisco  after the Oakland funeral for the four murdered Oakland Police officers. According to the blogger "AVCR8TEUR": Many of you might have read about the tragic shooting death of four Oakland police officers last week. This past Friday, police department representatives from all over the world attended the memorial service held at Oakland's Oracle Arena. Eight representatives from the Chicago Police Department drove 38 hours through a snowstorm in Wyoming to Oakland to show their support. The spotting of police from around the country happened to this blogger, too.  While at a new sports bar called "Players" in San Francisco, I met six members of the Boston Police Department who, while they didn't want to be on video, did give me an honorary badge!   Thanks BPD!

More at Oakland Tribune : “Retaliation for a shooting two days earlier appears to be the motive for a shooting Friday in West Oakland in which one woman was killed and another wounded by someone who shot at them from a pickup truck, police said. The dead woman was identified as Giovanna Warren, 24, of Oakland. The name of the other woman, who was in critical but stable condition Saturday, was not released. Police said she was a 22-year-old Oakland resident.”

From KCRATV - "Taps" was played and a prayer was offered Friday at a funeral for four slain Oakland police officers at Oracle Arena.

From KCRATV - California Attorney General Jerry Brown on Friday praised Oakland police during a funeral for four slain officers at Oracle Arena.

From KCRATV - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday spoke at a funeral for four slain Oakland police officers at Oracle Arena.

From KCRATV - Lt. Anthony Banks honors his friend, Sgt. Mark Dunakin, at a funeral Friday for Dunakin and three other Oakland police officers killed in the line of duty last weekend.

From KCRATV - About 20,000 people, including thousands of police officers, converged on Oracle Arena Friday for a funeral for four Oakland police officers killed in the line of duty last weekend.

From GimpingMan on YouTube: This was the procession that passed me as I was getting in the freeway this morning. By time I found my camera they had all passed. I got some good shots of them though, alot is really shakey, I dont know what my problem was.. haha

From NewsPoliticalNews: OAKLAND, Calif. - The city virtually halted Friday for the funeral of four slain police officers, with a populace still in shock jamming a large sports arena, spilling into an overflow stadium and filling the streets to pay their last respects. The funerals for Mark Dunakin, John Hege, Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai, who authorities say were gunned down March 21 by a parolee, shut down major freeways into and out of Oakland for much of the day as their long processions made their way to and from the Oracle Arena. - 03/27/09

"StudentLawyer" a YouTuber who also contributes to the iReport, went to the funeral. Here's his interview and coverage.

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Members of the Oakland Police Department and the families of four slain officers will take a step toward closure today following one of the darkest chapters of their lives. They won't be alone. Law enforcement officers from all 50 states and a handful of foreign countries are expected to pour into the Oracle Arena for an 11 a.m. funeral honoring the four officers killed in related shooting incidents last Saturday. A list of tentative speakers includes acting police Chief Howard Jordan, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, state Attorney General Jerry Brown, and family and friends of the officers. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to meet privately with the families before the service around 10:15 a.m., police said.”

On May 19th Alameda residents will be able to assure the economic future of the City of Alameda by voting for the Alameda Point Development Plan for the redevelopment of Alameda Naval Air Station as planned by the Alameda Base Reuse Committee and its subsequent evolutions to the Alameda Reuse and Redevelopment Commission of today. The plan consists of a mix of uses and an ambitious plan adding over 4,000 much-needed housing units. But the most important fact is the plan will mark the begining of the replacement economic development we have worked to achieve for so long. Opponents point to Measure A as the reason why the plan should be defeated, but the fact is Measure A was passed in 1973 and represents a time when Alamedans were interested in restricting development and maintaining Alameda from people of color. Those days are long gone. Now, Alameda needs jobs and the region wants to see The City of Alameda have an economic development project that replaces the closed Naval Air Statio...

Brief video of Alameda Point with voice over narration on history of Alameda Point and Naval Air Station Alameda

  News is coming in that the election season has started early in Alameda this year and it looks like islanders are finally going to get a chance to make something exceptional happen out at the city’s run-down old Navy base. The backers of a plan to clean up and reuse the old Naval Air Station at Alameda Point today submitted the initiative language to the city. Now they will start collecting signatures to place the plan on the Nov. 3 ballot. This is frankly great news for Alameda. That old Navy base has sat unused and neglected for a long, long time. Finally a plan that someone can pay for is coming forward to get the place cleaned up and ready for real public use again. A lot of ideas have come and gone out there, but this is the only one makes any damn sense at all. Look, this has been a long time coming and I’m sure voters are going to get an earful from professional nimby’s who will oppose anything that even resembles a plan that could actually be achieved. And see my...

The NFLTA crew talks Tom Cable, JaMarcus Russell, and what to expect from the Raiders in '09. This video belongs to NFL.com Courtesy of http://www.nfl.com/videos

This statement by "The Uhuru Movement" (Uhuru means "freedom") has been making the rounds unfortunately. It's not reflective of what many feel regardless of color, but it's important to know how cold some people can be. The African People’s Education and Defense Fund thanks all of our friends and supporters who have voiced their concerns about the position taken by the Uhuru Movement on the March 21 killings of four Oakland policemen and twenty-six year old Lovelle Mixon. We unite with your interest in dialog and resolution to this situation and in building unity among the various communities in Oakland through genuine social justice. The Uhuru Movement has always understood that our friends may disagree with some of our positions — positions that always uphold justice for the African working class community. We understand and unite with your concerns that the tense situation in Oakland must be resolved. It is unfortunate that it takes a ...