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In a Sunday evening interview with Lawrence Scott of KNTV NBC Bay Area Channel 11, San Francisco, Golden State (Oakland) Warriors new "executive board member," NBA Legend Jerry West, said the one set of words this blogger has wanted to hear for years: the Warriors "need to get bigger." The Golden State (Oakland) Warriors of owner Chris Cohan and Team President Robert Rowell were known as a small, fast team without the "towers" necessary to compete in tough games down the stretch. And in much of their history since the late 80s, the Warriors were never known for that 'big guy in the middle.' The last person with the ability required to wear that tag was "The Chief," Center Robert Parish, who left in what was described as a trade that cemented Celtics President, the legendary Red Auerbach's " reputation for thievery ," at the expense of The Warriors. Auerbach dealt the first and 13th picks in the 1980 NBA Draft to The...

While open for about a month now, the official grand opening of the new Kwik Way on Lake Park Avenue, just five doors down from the Grand Lake Theater, happened last Sunday. A small group of people consisting of friends of the restaurant's owner Gary Rizzo, people from the neighborhood, and Oakland's District Two Councilmember Pat Kernighan, and this blogger, lined up to order everything from burgers and fries to chicken. As I approached the eatery, I saw Lakeshore Business Improvement District Executive Director and friend Pam Drake, who explained that Rizzo received a great deal of help from the City of Oakland, and specifically Kernighan's office. No, the City of Oakland didn't provide money, but did provide help in the way of expediting the permit process for Rizzo. And why not? The Kwik Way is a long dead landmark brought back to economic life. And already has become a place to hang over a decent, old-fashioned bag of fries. Well, not too old-fashion...

In my last blog posts, I introduced the new drug INCIVEK by Vertex as a way to help people suffering from Hepatitis C. As I reported, Hepatitis C is a virus, particularly common among African Americans, and that causes inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis C effects an estimated 270 million to 300 million people Worldwide, 30,000 people in Santa Clara County, 12,000 people in San Francisco City and County, and 2,400 new cases were reported in 2010. For this blog post, and as promised, I interviewed the main advocate for the use of INCIVEK. His name is Steve Goodwin. Steve Goodwin is a chief engineer and a one-person band, talking to anyone who will listen about INCIVEK. In the video, below, Goodwin eloquently explains how he came to find out about INCIVEK via the use of the website Clinical Trials, at clinicaltrials.gov , and how it's helped him to a more normal path of life. Steve also wrote a paper of INCIVEK and how it's helped him, and all of this has been hi...

This is a bit of news that wasn't in the newspapers, mentioned on blogs (until now), or covered on Twitter, save for one wayward tweet by the Washington DC Economic Partnership at International Council Of Shopping Centers Spring Convention in Las Vegas, and not by the Mayor of Oakland herself. As you can tell by the photo with Washington DC Mayor Mayor Vincent C. Gray and the attendance registration image, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan was in Las Vegas for the same International Council Of Shopping Centers Spring Convention on Monday. As one of four people who started the annual trend of the City of Oakland having a presence at ICSC to promote development in Oakland in 1997, it's great to know that Mayor Quan was there, but sad to know she's trying to hide the fact she attended. Her name's on the file published by ICSC and you can see here , in addition to the photo. And in the Twitter tweet , it's reported that Quan was at the Washington DC booth. Here's...

Originally, this blogger was planning to run Part Three of this video recap last Wednesday, but frankly elected to stretch out the content production opportunity. The video is over 38 minutes long, and only a handful of people will watch the whole presentation at once. But for those who do, the video interview with John Russo has a lot of information, and that it's being both referred to by some media types, and ignored by others is a clear example of how personal issues, jealously, and prejudice can block the efficient reporting of a story. Articles referencing this video should be on the front page of both the San Francisco Chronicle and The Oakland Tribune , but that's not the case. Just telling the truth. Ask yourself why. Then ask yourself why print media's losing out to blogs, video, and even some Twitter accounts for ad dollars. But I digress, though I could go on for a book-length diatribe on that issue. Where We Left Off: The last blog post o...

Lakesode Park and 565 Bellevue at Lake Merritt

Salsa By Lake Merritt On Sunday

Kwik Way Grand Opening

A Ratty Tree House On Euclid In Oakland

Troy is Captain America

America has too many captains!

The Golden Gate Bridge from the yacht America

Beth and Liza drive America the yacht

Chrissy D and Brad on America the yacht

Beth, Hana, Christine, and Carol at Golden Gate Yacht Club

Swedish Women's Congregation at Golden Gate Yacht Club

The Golden Gate Bridge

Capt Troy Sears

Liza and Kathy on America

The Yacht America. Set to sail today in San Francisco

The interesting news of litigation between the Oakland Coliseum and the Golden State Warriors mentioned in my last blog post just became more interesting. It was hard to get any good intel from what has been a closed-session conversation as of Apr 15, 2011. And one document that was, at one point on the Coliseum's website and referring to this legal battle, was interestingly removed. But some light emerged at the website of Keker &Van Nest, and one lawyer named Daniel Purcell , who claims: Golden State Warriors v. Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum: We represented the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority in a series of disputes with the coliseum's professional basketball team. These disputes, involving tens of millions of dollars, arose over more than ten years and involved miscellaneous claims and cross-claims. Over the course of four arbitrations, we collected $32.25 million for our client. And I put that in image form, in case Mr. Purcell was urged to take down...

UPDATE: Oakland Coliseum vs. Golden State Warriors new litigation information. The title above is about perfect because the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda allowed the Oakland - Alameda County Coliseum Authority to take just $7 million for a naming rights agreement for the Oakland Coliseum that was worth much more, and let them do it even as Overstock.com is involved in, to this day, and with the same County of Alameda in a court battle where the County seeks $15 million in damages over alleged fraudulent pricing practices by the company . The deal - which in a very irresponsible editorial , the Oakland Tribune actually, strangely, praised - was done netting no better monies than were raised in 1998 for the Network Associates Coliseum naming rights deal. That was at $7 million. If now former Oakland City Attorney John Russo is correct about the City of Oakland taking actions and making decisions that are "morally questionable, " then it seems the Oversto...

An email was sent to me announcing a very important event for the evening of May 24th: Unfinished Business: Empowering Women & Girls on May 24, at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Lafayette at 3780 Mt. Diablo Blvd, from 7 PM to 9 PM.  RSVP at UnfinishedBusinessRSVP@gmail.com Featuring Gina Otto (photo), bestselling author or Cassandra's Angel. Cassandra's Angel is about the stories we've been given by the people in our lives about who they think they should be....and dropping those stories to become who you were meant to be. The evening will be dedicated to discussing empowerment among women and girls, focusing on a process of mentorship and self expression as told in the book, to achieve personal growth and self esteem. This program is open to all girls and women, but is also a really great Mother/Daughter event! Our mistress of ceremonies will be actress Nicole Ari Parker, ( http://www.nicoleariparkeronline.com/ ) who in addition to her work on screen, has re...

Lakeside Park at Lake Merritt in Oakland

Steve Mariucci at NFL Draft

Sam, Stephanie,and Courtney - masters of Bay To Breakers PR and media

As of June 13th, John Russo 'transforms' from Oakland City Attorney to Alameda County City Manager, under a five-year contract that immediately give the hope of stability to a small island town that's seen a lot of instability, with five interim executives over the last six years, alone. In moving across the Oakland Estuary, Russo ends a period of both living and working in Oakland that started when he was 28 years old; he's now 52 years old. It also ends a long string of City of Oakland-related video interviews with this blogger, that totals 15 and together have been seen, as of this writing, 21,307 times. The next video interview will be after June 13th, when Russo sits down as Alameda, California's CEO, or more normally called, City Manger. But on Monday, Russo, in conversation that produced the 38-minute-plus, video, had a lot to say about why he's leaving Oakland. He was relaxed, especially since cases and office management c decisions now fall ...

Ridoune Harroufi, Bay To Breakers winner, with Josh Muxen, Angela Fang, and Katie Harrar

Allison, Courtney, and Stephanie: Media PR Rock Stars

IMF's Dominique Strauss-Khan proves that having a big title does not mean you have common sense. Married dude accused of rape.

One day after The Zazzle Bay To Breakers, that he was not in but holds the record for Samuel Wanjiru dies at 24. b2b100

Bay to Breakers winners with Angela Fang

More runners coming in from Bay To Breakers

Lineth Chepkurui with KRON's Vern Glenn after Bay To Breakers

Lineth Chepkurui beat Mamitu Daska in Zazzle Bay To Breakers by 1 second

Lineth Chepkurui and Ridouane Harroufi win 2011 Bay To Breakers. Harroufi first non Kenyan to win in 20 years

Bay To Breakers finish line

Bay To Breakers finish line...waiting...

Bay To Breakers we pass Sharon Meadow in Golden Gate Park

Bay To Breakers mile mark 5

Bay to Breakers at top of Hayes Street Hill

Bay To Breakers security

Bay To Breakers elite runners warming up.

Bay to Breakers start line!

Vern Glenn and Officer Carcelen

Waiting for porto potties at Bay To Breakers

Zennie62Media on the Red Carpet At Night Of 100 Stars Oscar Party

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has to take care of his current customers and stop some really disturbing practices before AT&T takes over T-Mobile. Given what happened to this blogger today, God forbid any T-Mobile user that winds up in the clutches of AT&T. There's evidence that AT&T tries to fraudulently push customers into buying their U-Verse television service and it comes in the form of this blogger's experience, which ended - for now - just seven minutes ago. It started when I called to order AT&T High Speed Internet service on Wednesday of this week (May 11th). The AT&T agent who took my call and set up my order, Chrissy, said that I was in an area "Where they're targeting AT&T U-Verse for service." I told her that I had (and have) DIRECTV and was happy with it. I didn't want AT&T U-Verse, and asked her not to add it. After that was done, Chrissy was to call me back at 1:30 PM PST to finalize the order on T...

SF Public Defender Jeff Adachi With Fernado Santana , a photo by zennie62 on Flickr. In a press conference today, San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi showed a series of videos that, his office holds, shows the San Francisco Police Department conducting illegal searches and committing police brutality. This is the second time in three months the San Francisco Public Defender has stepped forward with video showing SFPD misconduct. The first time resulted in a still-ongoing Federal investigation. Mr. Adachi's department has provided this blogger with the videos, which were segmented. They are, as this is written, being put into sequential order to run as one video. That video will be ready this afternoon. Adachi, along with his Chief Attorney, Matt Gonzalez, called for a zero-tolerance policy for police officers who commit perjury in San Francisco. As to what happened, on December 30th, four San Francisco police officers - Ricardo Guerrero, Peter Richardson, Ro...

SF Deputy Public Defender Qiana Washington talks about SF Police brutality cases sfnews sanfrancisco

Matt Gonsalez calls for zero tolerance of SFPD police misconduct

Jeff Adachi talks new SF Police misconduct video now

@YouTube must block use of the N-Word in the comments of videos. It is out of hand.

Recalling an excellent salmon salad at the Capital Grill across Broadway and 1/2 down 50th from Radio City in NYC

Microsoft Acquires Skype for 8 billion! I remember when Skype was a small startup with a handful of users.

United Airlines B Concourse photo