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Regular readers of this space know this blogger travels to Atlanta, Georgia to help Mom and just keep her company almost every month. My mother lost her husband and my stepfather in 2005 and to prostate cancer. (In fact, my Mom had breast cancer, and my father and stepfather passed away from prostate cancer in 2005, so that was a hard year.) Fortunately between good friends nearby and my aunts and uncles just four hours by drive in Tennessee, and then me, she's not without company. Even though it's hard on me as an only child, and I'll explain why later in this post, I do enjoy my company with my Mother and for several reasons. First, she knows who I am as a person. Second, I don't know how much life I have to share with her, she's a breast cancer survivor, so things she may said or done that have bothered me in the past, don't impact me anymore. Third, she's my only family member. And finally, my stress goes away when I'm here. We're out in...

 Berkeley Prof. Michael O'Hare  The UC Berkeley Letter To Students On California by Berkeley Professor Michael O'Hare is one that California Gubernatorial Candidates Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman should see because both are part of the generations that Michael O'Hare points to as essentially responsible for the decline of California, but for different reasons. Jerry Brown was Governor of California when Prop 13 (also called AB 8), the legislation reducing property taxes to 1 percent, was passed in 1978. Prop 13 us widely pointed to as the legislative device that robbed California of the tax revenue is used to provide the public services it was known for. Meg Whitman never voted or bothered to register to vote, or participated in California Government and politics , but now thinks she can run the state.  The idea of running for governor somehow entered her head 26 months ago. Who Is Michael O'Hare? Michael O'Hare is Professor of Public Policy At The UC ...

20-year-old 5 feet 7 inch, 240 pound, brown eyed and black haired Andrew Barrientos is armed, dangerous, and on the run after shooting a Fremont police officer who was trying to serve a search warrant at an East Oakland house at 2009 Auseon Ave, according to Oakland Police Spokesperson Jeff Thomason. Fortunately, the unnamed Fremont Officers's injuries are not life threatening. He's being treated for a leg wound at Highland Hospital. Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums issued this statement: Our hearts and prayers are with the Fremont police officer shot this afternoon, his loved ones, his fellow law enforcement officers and the City of Fremont family as they cope with this latest incident of senseless violence. On behalf of the Oakland community, I thank him for his law enforcement service and express my deep regret that this dedication has resulted in injury on our streets. I support Chief Batts and the men and women of the Oakland Police Department in pursuing every lead to...

According to an email from Richard Lieberman, KPIX Channel Five in San Francisco has suffered a rash of departures due to the terrible economy. Richard's become the recorder of change in San Francisco Bay Area Media via his blog Rich Lieberman Report . In fact, Rich's so good some of the local newspapers and news websites quote his scoops without crediting him . Not here. Anna Duckworth  Here's Richard's info: Jeffrey Schaub sent me a list of the prime talent that have left or were removed from KPIX these past two years-- Manny Ramos Tony Russomanno Bill Schechner John Lobertini Rick Quan Barbara Rodgers Jeffrey Schaub Hank Plante Anna Werner Lisa Chan Sue Quan Anna Duckworth John Kessler Sydnie Kohara? Wendy Tokuda as anchor Wow, I wasn't aware so many people left, especially Anna Duckworth and John Kessler? But that's what I get for being on planes back and forth to Atlanta and New York City so much. Also sad to read of the pa...

In an effort to keep you as consistently informed about the Oakland Mayor's Race as possible, this blogger assembled the first playlist of interviews of Oaklanders running for Mayor. Don MacLeay  This playlist, however, is not complete and but it will be, and soon. As of this writing, it contains 8 videos of seven of the 10 candidates, totaling approximately 140 minutes, and 6,051 views (and counting). So far, Terrance Candell, Greg Harland, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don MacLeay, Councilmember Jean Quan, and Joe Tuman (with an asterisk), have been interviewed. Kaplan represents two videos with one more to be added. Tuman and Harland both have one more video each coming to the set, and in Tuman's case a full 30 minute conversation. And I have to talk to Marcie Hodge, Arnie Fields, and Larry Lionel Young. The playlists do not include forum videos or Oaklanders impressions of the candidates, or the race itself. That will be in a separate playlist. As to h...

Senator Don Perata Seeking to help define The Oakland Mayor's Race, KPIX Channel Five elected to conduct a poll of 591 "likely voters" in Oakland. The poll, of which this blogger has not seen the actual questions but may square with anecdotal reports, says that Former Senator Don Perata got 41 percent of 1st choice votes, Oakland City Councilmember Jean Quan got 26 percent of 1st choice votes, and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan got 14 percent of 1st choice votes. The other candidates combined earned 12 percent of 1st choice votes. When asked for a second choice those who picked Kaplan went Perata, and those who went for Quan picked Kaplan. But the CBS report never mentioned the 3rd choice results. What this means is that CBS has some weird interest in not mentioning the names of the other candidates. In other words, their poll reporting is either sloppy, lazy or fixed. Why in hell would Channel Five have any interest in the Oakland Mayors race to the degre...

Councilmemer Pat Kernighan  Just about an hour ago this blogger posted the news of Oakland City Council District Two  (Glenview, Chinatown) Candidate Jennifer Pae picking up a valuable endorsement in the form of Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson. In the blog post, I offered the view that perhaps the backing of Carson "may be the beginning of the end." May. Even with that, and with the overall tone of communicating that Pat was in a battle, I got this hot email from Councilmember Kernighan: Zennie, Perhaps you are jumping to conclusions about the "beginning of the end" for moi. Would you like to report the facts that I have the endorsements of Attorney General Jerry Brown, Supervisor-elect Wilma Chan, Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker and Council President Jane Brunner, among others? Do you know that the leader of every NCPC and neighborhood group in my district supports me because I have worked hard every day for the past five years advocating for ...

Jenn Pae A slowly developing challenge to Oakland City Council District Two Councilmember Patricia Kernighan now has the magical look of an upset effort. Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson has announced he's backing Jennifer Pae as the next District Two Councilmember for Oakland. "I am honored to have the support of Supervisor Keith Carson," said Pae. "Supervisor Carson has a long history of protecting working families and I look forward to working with him on ways we can invest in Oakland." Jennifer Pae is a 28-year-old Korean American community organizer who has been involved in a number of grassroots political efforts in Oakland. Pat Kernighan It's not the only bit of news from Jenn's campaign: she's also out-raised the incumbent Councilmember Kernighan by (according to the last reporting period) over $10,000, or $36,638 versus $20,393. While Pat reportedly has raised $47,000 overall, and before her last cocktail-oriented...

Don, are you out polling? For some time candidates in the Oakland Mayor's Race, let alone Oaklanders, have not had a handle on who the real front-runner in the Oakland Mayor's Race was. And no wonder; no one had done a poll. Well, as of this writing, that's changed. Someone's conducting a poll of Oaklanders, but what's n not known by this space is who's doing the poll. The only clue available that a poll is in the works is this Tweet: davidcolburn - I've been polled twice on the Oakland mayor's race in past 48 hours. Is everyone getting calls, or am I just lucky? about 6 hours ago via TweetCaster The concern here is for the design of the poll. Does it mention each of the ten candidates for Mayor to determine awareness? Is it done by one of the candidates, or another group or organization? How many people are being contacted? Whatever the case, a poll of the Oakland Mayor's Race is being conducted. A fair speculation is that it...

Joe Tuman  When this blogger got an email from a person who was concerned that Joe Tuman's campaign was placing lawn signs where they should not be, and wanted to know where to file a complaint, it was discounted because there was no photo or video to go with the email.  No proof. Instead, it seemed logical to connect the person who sent the email directly with the Joe Tuman campaign; they followed up with the complainer, copying this blogger in the process. But what seemed to be a small issue's slowly turning into a bigger one. Here's the latest two Tweets from Joe Tuman's Twitter account: Our Yard Signs seem to be disappearing....? Someone is not happy about Oakland changing for the better! about 5 hours ago via Facebook Are Yard Signs seem to be disappearing? Keep an eye out as someone is not happy about changing Oakland for the better. And to be fair, here's the email sent that I wasn't going to post at first. Since the Tuman campaign's compl...

EBYD.  Greg Harrland's running... Yep. Another forum is coming up for the Oakland Mayor's Race. It's the Alameda County Democratic Lawyers Club Forum on September 10th. Held at Everett and Jones Restaurant in Jack London Square at 12 Noon that day, every mayoral candidate has been invited to what's both a forum and an endorsement meeting. East Bay Young Democrats (EBYD) Behind Current Events On its website on the Oakland Mayor's Race , the East Bay Young Democrats explain that "there are three main contenders for the cities top position, and goes on to mention Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Former Senator Don Perata, and Councilmember Jean Quan, and that's it. The web page was created before the June 10th mayoral forum at First Unitarian Church and never updated. Here's an assist. There are 10 candidates for Mayor of Oakland: Terrance Candell, Arnold Fields, Greg Harland, Marcie Hodge, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don Macleay,...

Mayor Goodman Just when it seemed San Jose was the only city that wants the Oakland Athletics to leave Oakland and move to a planned new stadium there, enter Las Vegas. According to Ballpark Digest , Oscar Goodman, the Mayor of Las Vegas, said his city has entered talks about building a 45,000 seat domed ballpark for an American League team and representatives of that team are involved. While Mayor Goodman did not mention the Oakland A's by name, it's widely known in the media that Las Vegas has been a favored option for A's managing owner Lew Wolff, and as recently as last year. Also, according to the Sports Business Daily , MLB Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig reportedly met with Mayor Goodman and "A's Execs" as recently as last year, a rumor that neither MLB or the Oakland A's would confirm. Las Vegas Mayor Goodman said that the talks were in "the early stages" and that they may not go anywhere, saying "I’m not going to tell y...

This is a quick supplemental and update to this blogger's last Oakland Mayor's Race blog post on Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan's call to the Oakland Sierra Club Chapter's Volunteer Chairman Kent Lewandowski, asking if he and the organization would open the scheduled Wednesday, August 25th Oakland Green Mayoral Forum (from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM) at East Bay Community Foundation 353 Frank Ogawa Plaza Oakland, CA) to all candidates. Well, after all of that, The Sierra Club cleaned it's own air and made it fresh-smelling again , well, to everyone except the Oakland Climate Action Coalition. (Geez, how many non-profits do we have!?) A email was just received from Kent Lewandowski, which reads as follows: Zennie, We are proceeding with the forum and are inviting all the candidates. I have the following candidates listed on the registrar of voters filing report (see page 22): 1. ARNOLD FIELDS 2. DON MACLEAY 3. DON PERATA 4. GREG HARLAND 5. JEAN QUAN 6. JOE...

As this blogger has written, The (yeah, capital "T") Oakland Mayor's Race is going to get even more interesting and today, Thursday, is proof. Pay attention to this blog post if you enjoy laughter and guffaws, and you know you do. First, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan phoned to say she called Kent Lewandowski, volunteer Chairperson for the Northern Alameda County Group of the Sierra Club, San Francisco Bay Chapter, and the author of what's still the most awful email in Oakland Politics ever seen by this blogger, to ask him to include all of the candidates. I must admit, this is funny If you're just getting wind of this fart the Sierra Club broke, Kent Lewandowski sent an email to almost every candidate in the Oakland Mayor's Race (except Arnie Fields), to inform them and by "cc" this blogger that because they were not "viable" candidates, they would not be part of the Wednesday, August 25th "Oakland Green Mayoral Forum." ...

Don Perata  Breaking Oakland Mayor's Race news! This blogger just received a late night email announcing that Former State Senator Don Perata will skip the planned Sierra Club Forum for Wednesday, August 24th. Perata Campaign Manager Rhys Williams explains that... Senator Perata will not participate in forums that aren't open to all candidates. Now that there is an official list of candidates, Senator Perata believes it is only fair, democratic, and respectful that all those voices have an opportunity to be heard. That was one goal of Oakland's new system of voting. Readers of this space will recall that The Sierra Club Volunteer Chairperson Kent Lewandowski, sent what this blogger called an awful email explaining that The Sierra Club was going to exclude candidates it considered "not viable." Again, The Oakland Mayor's Race has thirteen candidates: Tim Brown, Terrance Candell, Arnold Fields, Sharika Gregory, Greg Harland, Marcie Hodge, Counc...

Earlier, Kent Lewandowski, volunteer Chairperson Northern Alameda County Group of The Sierra Club, San Francisco Bay Chapter, wrote a rather, and this blogger will state again, stupid email to the Oakland Mayor's Race candidates Kent says aren't "viable." Which is why this blogger's not returning from Georgia in time to attend it: If you've not seen the email from Kent representing the Sierra Club, here, again, it is: from Kent to candell1@yahoo.com, dluvcan@yahoo.com, candidate@macleay4mayor.org, info@arniefields.org, info@harland4mayor.com, mhodge@peralta.edu, LL.Young@prurealty.com cc zennie@zennie62.com date Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 12:41 AM subject Green Oakland Mayoral Forum - Sierra Club signed-by gmail.com hide details 12:41 AM (21 hours ago) Dear Candidate, Thank you for your interest in participating in the "Green Oakland" forum sponsored by the Sierra Club. We made the decision to invite the 3 candidates who are...

In the wake of Oakland police budget cuts and crime rate that's not adjusting for the city's dismal budget, the City of Oakland and neighbors in Cleveland Heights, also known as Haddon Hill, consider private security as a solution. But first, what's Cleveland Heights / Haddon Hill? It's a neighborhood bordered by Park Boulevard, E 18th Street, Lakeshore, and The Mac Arthur Freeway, and contains the now-closed Parkway Theater and The Merritt Bakery. It has an estimated population of over 7,400 people according to City-Data.com . Oakland Coucilmember Pat Kernighan issued this email to the Cleveland Heights Yahoo Group : Dear Cleveland Heights neighbors, I am writing to ask for your input to help out the residents in a nearby area. The north part of Beat 17Y has been hit hard in the last month by very brazen robbers. The neighbors there are interested in hiring a private security patrol. I recall that during one of the earlier crime waves on Haddon Hill, ...

Terrance Candell's wife is really upset  The Oakland Mayor's Race has thirteen candidates: Tim Brown, Terrance Candell, Arnold Fields, Sharika Gregory, Greg Harland, Marcie Hodge, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don Macleay, Niki Okuk, Don Macleay, Councilmember Jean Quan, Joe Tuman, and Larry Lionel Young Jr. As of this writing, the next two announced forums will only have three of the 13 candidates able to present their case to be the next Mayor of Oakland. The Sierra Club and The Oakland League of Women Voters forums have some unique, clubby, and frankly discriminatory methods of excluding what it sees as "lesser" candidates running for Mayor of Oakland. Reportedly, from conversations with a number of candidates, the League of Women Voters wants each candidate to have donations from over 400 donors, or 427. What that has to do with being a great mayoral election candidate, I have no idea. In the case of The Sierra Club, they're reportedly taking the...

Apparently the news that her Oakland City Council District Two Seat Competitor Jennifer Pae raised over $30,000 has driven her to the bar (just kidding). Oakland City Councilperson Pat Kernighan's hosting a gathering at Era Art Bar on Grand Avenue, just 40 feet from Broadway in Downtown Oakland, where she's buying cocktails for her friends and supporters - uh, with a donation. If you follow this space, you recall the last political event this blogger attended at Era Art Bar: the Blogger Party for Libby Schaaf, who's running for the Oakland City Council District Four seat.  In fact, here's the video: But - not that I'm complaining - you had to buy your drinks, which is great for controlling cocktail consumption!  (And The Era Art Bar's becoming the venue of choice for Oakland political events of late, with Libby, Pat and Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan holding shindigs there.) Pat Kernighan This news of "Complimentary Drinks" emphasize...

Get it?  Huh?   Now that the Oakland Mayor's Race has reached its second season and is heading toward the November election, we have candidates and groups trying to push what they see as "minor candidates" as Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan said Wednesday, out of the way.  But Councilmember Quan is really wrong, and this blogger's disappointed that she made the statement because with New Media and IRV, there are no minor candidates . This blogger is consistently disappointed at the display of the amazing levels of both hubris and, frankly, stupidity that have come to mark the media strategy in the Oakland Mayor's Race. Newspapers are not the number one source of information today in politics: the Internet is. But the people who run their election campaigns in Oakland, as well as those producing the forums, don't seem to get that. They think that by their actions in excluding talking to all of the candidates, or by some campaigners raising a lot of...

This blog post was written in the head of this blogger before it was obvious the Oakland Raiders were going to win their first 2010 NFL Preseason game, 17 to 9, against the Dallas Cowboys under the Hue Jackson / Jason Campbell offensive regime. Because, even with dropped and tipped passes, what was most interesting and pleasing about the Oakland Raiders, was the real, timed, precision passing attack. What was impressive was that from the snap of the football, to the quarterback's footwork, to the quarterback's hitch step, to the throw, to the receiver's routes, the Oakland Raiders quarterbacks are obviously drilled in the classic Bill Walsh fashion, with the objective of getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands and to the receiver as quickly as possible as part of a timed set of movements between passer and catcher. Yes, Jason Campbell completed 7 of 13 passes. Yes, Darrius Heyward-Bey didn't have a catch. But the passes got out of the quarterback...

Image via Wikipedia For some reason, these events go together: today's the 71st Anniversary of The Wizard of OZ and on Sunday, August 15th, at 7:30 PM PDT at The Herbst Theater in San Francisco, REAF, The Richmond Ermet AIDS Foundation holds its 16th annual presentation of "Help Is On The Way" called Help Is On The Way XVI. Melissa Manchester It's hard to believe The Wizard of OZ is a full 71 years young.  In fact, it seems timeless.  Music and songs from The Wizard of OZ are etched into my brain, in part because one of my favorite songs to sing at The Alley in Oakland, is If I Only Had A Brain .  But it is 71 years yound, so it's important to stop and consider the impact this awesome musical movie has had on American Culture. It has been translated in 40 languages, and been the basis for scores of reinterpretations, including the popular musical, The Wiz . Which reminds this blogger why the link with Help Is On The Way XVI was made in my pea brain! ...

Image via Wikipedia Downtown Oakland, CA  Apparently, the City of Oakland's going to great lengths, almost neurotic, to alter the street culture of Downtown Oakland, but this bit of news is really disturbing. It rests in a Facebook message I just received, and part of which is posted here: have you heard about some of the ambitious plans of the Downtown and Lake Merritt Business Improvements District boards? Take a look, they want to pipe in shitty soft country musak 24 hours a day at all the corners of 13th and Broadway to drive away "undesireables" So a visit to this link reveals a Wikepedia page which reads: In July 2008, landlords in the district voted a parcel tax upon themselves to fund the "Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown Community Benefit Districts" to provide "special security services, cleaning of sidewalks, beautification, marketing and improvement of district identity and organizational services for businesses in the d...

If you follow this space, you recall the long process of working to get a final design for the new San Francisco Transbay Terminal. The old terminal, slated for demolition, was the hub of trains into San Francisco from the East Bay and using the San Francisco / Oakland Bay Bridge. Then, after trains gave way to cars and buses, it was the terminus of AC Transit Bus Service and San Mateo Transit Service for the East Bay and the North Bay. But with all of that, it had still fallen into a state of deterioration such that it became a blight in the South of Market area of downtown San Francisco. After the establishment of the Redevelopment Plan in 2005 and a competition, a design created by Pelli Clarke Pelli emerged as the unanimous winner. Here's this blogger's video from the competition and the presentation in San Francisco City Hall in 2007 : Ground breaking marks new beginning The plan is to take shape over the next seven years and be complete in 2017. I'm ce...