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Tomorrow night's benefit for Haiti is more than Oakland artists coming together - it's an expression of our community's capacity to reach beyond our own troubles to help others. So says, successful artist and producer Dwayne Wiggins, who stopped by OaklandSeen to share his vision for the event. Wiggins, who organized an impressive bill including Too Short, E-40, Kev Choice and other local artists, hopes to raise $100k. Here he invites the community to the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enIku_8zzd0 And he talks in detail about his hopes for the event, the backstory in his interview on KPFA 94.1FM this morning: http://www.audioport.org/audioport_files/aimeeallisonlive@GMAIL.COM/10801-20100127-duaynewiggins_haitievent.mp3

Who makes the buildings of the San Francisco Bay Area? That's something this blogger's wondered about as, with a background in City Planning and a masters from Cal and undergrad degree from Texas-Arlington, the "who" behind buildings is as important as the building itself. Some times emals jog one's brain, and one I got on a Haiti-related building issue I can't go into now start me on to this path of interest. A Drager-built building in Burlingame So in going to cities like Burlingame and Emeryville, where apartment complexes are in abundance, the one question I've had is "who is building them." In the case of some interesting venues, that answer is Draeger Construction company. According to its website .. Draeger Construction is a full service contractor based in Northern California. For over 30 years this family owned and operated business has successfully performed thousands of reconstruction projects. Draeger Construction spe...

Who makes the buildings of the San Francisco Bay Area? That's something this blogger's wondered about as, with a background in City Planning and a masters from Cal and undergrad degree from Texas-Arlington, the "who" behind buildings is as important as the building itself. Some times emals jog one's brain, and one I got on a Haiti-related building issue I can't go into now start me on to this path of interest. A Drager-built building in Burlingame So in going to cities like Burlingame and Emeryville, where apartment complexes are in abundance, the one question I've had is "who is building them." In the case of some interesting venues, that answer is Draeger Construction company. According to its website.. Draeger Construction is a full service contractor based in Northern California. For over 30 years this family owned and operated business has successfully performed thousands of reconstruction projects. Draeger Construction spec...

Apply for Commission to Redraw CA Election Lines - oh, yeah it pays $80K too. Get the scoop tonight 5:30pm. Adam Briones of the Greenlining Institute is heading an effort to expand the pool of people of color applicants for a citizen's redistricting commission being formed (read http://bit.ly/9B6wxV for more). Redistricting is directly responsible for the amount of money that goes to schools, jobs and neighborhood in the community. It's one of those obscure but powerful groups that will define the political power and future of California communities like Oakland. So apply - and for more information attend the Greenlining Institute's seminar TONIGHT at 5:30 pm at their office at 1918 University Ave, Berkeley. Or go to www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov and submit the short application. From the Greenlining website's Q&A: Q: What does redistricting mean? A: Redistricting means to redraw the lines of an election district. In California these districts must be adjusted every te...

14 days and counting. I got the message yesterday that a group would like me to go to Haiti. I'd already thrown my name in the hat in the beginning, but they all needed (appropriately) surgeons. Or nurses. But now the situation has morphed, and when the call came my insta-gut response was "yes." Afterward, a tiny flicker of stomach-butterflies set it. Maybe it was the fact that I don't (and maybe won't) have a confirmed return flight home. The estimated time for being there is a week (very do-able), but no guarantees on that estimate (um, less do-able?). Or maybe the butterflies were in part because of the way the lead doctor emphasized (three times!) the fact that we would always have Security with us (clearly said with a capital S). But I knew I wanted to go. When it comes to Haiti, so many of us want to do something . And so I thought you might like to go with me. Which is why I'm going to write about the trip, probably more openly and personally than anyth...

In this dramatic example of City of Oakland fiscal stupidity: the proposed 250 parking meter locations for new meters will cost more to install than the $146,000 revenue gain expected. The previous Oakland Parking blog post on this focused on this email sent out by Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel's (District 3 - downtown Oakland, West Oakland) Office: From: Todd, Amber On Behalf Of City Administrator's Office Subject: RE: Locating additional parking meters per Council direction on October 6, 2009 Dear Council Members: To realize $146,000 in additional revenue in FY 2009-10, the Oakland City Council directed staff at the October 6, 2009 meeting to identify 250 possible locations to install additional parking meters. Staff in Parking Administration and Public Works worked together and produced the attached list which suggests possible locations where additional meters could be installed. To give flexibility in generating revenue, the attached list contains 47...

The City of Oakland's desire to earn more revenue on the backs of Oakland's poor continues. This email, sent out by Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel's Office, reveals the first hand insensitivity of the City of Oakland during what many are still calling an economic recession and in a city with 17 percent unemployment and even more not working or underemployed .  Oakland City Council squeezes Oakland The email below calls for locating additional parking meters "as Per Council Direction" on October 6, 2009. This is in reverse of the desires of Oaklanders for fewer parking meters. Parking meters call for the same kind of draconian ticketing and enforcement practices that have overloaded Oaklanders with parking tickets and resulted in the towing of cars after five tickets were accumulated. Here's the email that shows the City of Oakland's irresponsiblity toward Oaklanders, and why the Oakland City Council should reconsider its policies or risk los...

The City of Oakland's desire to earn more revenue on the backs of Oakland's poor continues. This email, sent out by Oakland Councilmember Nancy Nadel's Office, reveals the first hand insensitivity of the City of Oakland during what many are still calling an economic recession and in a city with 17 percent unemployment and even more not working or underemployed .  Oakland City Council squeezes Oakland The email below calls for locating additional parking meters "as Per Council Direction" on October 6, 2009. This is in reverse of the desires of Oaklanders for fewer parking meters. Parking meters call for the same kind of draconian ticketing and enforcement practices that have overloaded Oaklanders with parking tickets and resulted in the towing of cars after five tickets were accumulated. Here's the email that shows the City of Oakland's irresponsiblity toward Oaklanders, and why the Oakland City Council should reconsider its policies or risk los...

On Friday, Craigslist Founder and SFGate.com blogger Craig Newmark was kind enough to open his cool Cole Valley, San Francisco home to me for a vlog interview on the future of media. This is the second "City Brights" video interview I've conducted; the first one was with Doc Jan Gurley, or "Doc Gurley." For those of you who don't know Craig Newmark, he's a San Franciscan who 15-years ago started what was to be a simple website to help friends make connections with services, resources, and each other. It grew to a 500-city website system of which while he's the founder, is no longer the owner. By agreement, we did not talk about Craigslist business. The talk with Craig (which was impacted by network problems that were vexing Craig when I arrived) really turned from a look at the future of media, to focus on a lot of pressing media problems today, then on Obama and the Google Nexus One. But to be sure, many people have been talking abou...

The Internet was inundated with rumors that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were breaking up or had already split and were filing for divorce. One blogger claimed to have been "vindicated" by the news from a UK publication, because he claimed Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie broke up last April. The news originally came late Saturday night, from a British news website called News Of The World which reported a $205 million divorce settlement as in the works. But today , that news was declared false by People Magazine and TMZ.com. TMZ : There's a report out that Brad and Angie are calling it quits. One source -- who should know -- says, "It's B.S." The news by News Of The World was detailed and claimed that a divorce agreement was finalized. The reason for the constant rumors of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's splitting up is that the two have heavy schedules that keep them on the road and apart. People Magazine reports that while Brad Pitt w...

Over at Zennie62.com , Patsy Eagan announced that there's a new website especially for the Glenview Neighborhood in Oakland. The rest of this blog post is her presentation of the website G lenviewNeighbors.com : (Glenview street banners, courtesy of Maja Brugos Design: www.brugosdesign.com) Yesterday's clouds dumped another inch of rain onto Oakland. More t-storms may be in the stars for the Bay today, with more precip. into next week. Some of the banners along Park Boulevard have buckled in the harsh weather, flapping in the high winds and in some places, coming loose from their streetlight mounts. Below them runs the garden median; the city nearly shut off its drip water system last year due to budget cuts. Today it's soaked. Water brims, then runs down the Glenview slope and into the sea. Next spring, the Glenview Neighborhood Association (GNA) plans to host a gardening party on the median. But while winter still reigns in Oakland, they've been busy with a...

In what's supposed to be a restaurant review, but comes off as more of a general commentary, the New York Times reviewed my favorite Oakland Restaurant, Lake Chalet. (As a note, Lake Chalet was where I had the Oakland YouTube Meetup and I've served as spokesperson which started because I just plain love the place.) I had to read the review in an effort to get out of my Oscar funk in the wake of the very weird treatment by their communications staff, but I digress. I don't understand what the reviewer means by "inconsistent menu" because the food's quite the same and I might add the menu's new. They changed it about a month ago. The new Half Chicken is fantastic. What I'm wanting and waiting for is the Zennie62 Burger. It's my dream burger and would consist of: 1 lb. ground italian sausage 1 medium yellow onion, chopped 1 green bell pepper sliced mushrooms, drained sloppy joe and salsa sauce kaiser rolls, toasted 2 cups (8 oz.) s...

Last night's Hope for Haiti Now concert featured 19 performances from artists like Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, U2, Wyclef Jean, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Christina Aguilera, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, and Kid Rock Jennifer Hudson, Emeline Michel, The Edge, Dave Matthews and Neil Young. Here's the AP's video summary : And Hope for Haiti Now attracted stars who worked the phones like Colin Farrell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Julia Roberts, Jack Nicholson, Charlize Theron, Steven Spielberg, Ellen DeGeneres, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Robert Pattinson, Denzel Washington, Matt Damon, Clint Eastwood, Halle Berry, and Ben Stiller. Bill Clinton, United Nations Special Envoy to Haiti, and head of the Bush / Clinton Haiti Fund, gave this speech: The Hope for Haiti Now concert event was in Los Angeles, New York, and Haiti, where CNN's Anderson Cooper is working to repor...

The news is all over that Chevron's planning to close its Richmond Refinery, but in Richmond, California and the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, it's seen as kind of a joke. While Chevron reports that it would like to remain operating the 100-year-old facility, it also has been beset with a number of economic problems that have made the decision to remain in Richmond more of a business consideration and less of an emotional one. First, the World's new export king, China has planned to slow its country's economic growth by tightening its bank lending practices to curb inflation. While China's inflation problems have resulted in a stronger U.S. Dollar (proof that Congressman Ron Paul is consistently wrong in his criticism of U.S. economic stimulus spending), its causing a drop in crude oil futures. China is the largest consumer of crude oil, so this news will hurt that industry. Add to that the near-recessionary U.S. Economy and you have a problem that...

The Oakland Parking Problem has a number of Oaklanders upset, yet the City of Oakland just doesn't seem to get it. The Oakland Parking Problem has its second political reaction: Green Party Member Don Macleay is running for Mayor. Don Macleay was one of the first to start working on an Oakland Parking Initiative, but like this blogger feels the City of Oakland just doesn't care. For example, an Oakland Councilmember with an affinity for cocktails yelled in the year of this blogger at a downtown Oakland restaurant recently only because of the mention of the Oakland Parking Initiative and the desire to lower parking rates to more reasonable and affordable levels. When this was said, the Oakland Councilmember turned and gestured with the cocktail glass with "IF YOU DON'T EXPLAIN WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO CUT, YOU'RE A LIAR!! A LIAR!!! I'LL CALL YOU THAT TO YOUR FACE!!! LIAR!!! Yes. Yelling really loud in the establishment , and just as it was wrote.  W...

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 ...