Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! According to Matier and Ross in the SF Chronicle , former Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly's suing the City of Oakland for unlawful termination (They used the term "unfair" but it's "unlawful").  At any rate, it was an expected action given the way she was let go and the kind of statements made about her before the action took place.  I wrote then that a defamation of character lawsuit would have been appropriate , but Edgerly apparently feels she was wrongfully terminated.  Again, Edgerly's way of protecting family and favorites caught up to her, that's certain.  But, and I state this again, Edgerly was put on the chopping block for actions that are common in the City of Oakland. I wrote a while back - stating that SF Chronicle Columnist Chip Johnson was right about Oakland favoritism - and will continue to assert this: Don't think that favoritism starts with Deb...

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:

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...

For about two years there has been talk of the formation of a Sports Task Force. I first sent an email asking for such a group to the staff of Mayor Ron Dellums during the first two months of his administration but did not receive feedback. Then I twice talked to the Mayor about brieking him regarding what happened to Oakland's Super Bowl Bid and the Oakland Sports Commission I established in 1998. The Mayor said he would get back to me on the matter, er, have his secretary call me, but never did that, so I had lost any faith in his interest in solving Oakland's long-standing sports industry problems. Then I was approached by Steve Lowe and Chris DeBenadetti, both who have been active in Oakland politics and sports journalism respectively. We talked about such a task force with a member of the Mayor's Staff over a year ago. Then we waited, but to Lowe's credit he pushed for it constantly. Now it's formed. The first meeting was Thursday of two week...

In the aftermath of the late-night arrest of BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, a planned Oakland City Hall-based protest went ahead as scheduled Sunday but with a less-angry energy than existed last week, when over 100 people were arrested and many downtown Oakland buildings were damaged in a night of rampaging protests against both Officer Mehserle's actions and the overall response of BART and elected officials. In today's event, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums took the microphone and really talked to the crowd about how their voice led to change.  Then I talked with Mayor Dellums about his call for change and if that would lead to reforms within the Oakland Police Department. Here's the video:

Report on Oakland seeks accountability, cuts : “Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums laid out a 60-day plan today for restructuring city government with an emphasis on greater accountability, cost cutting and greater civic engagement. Dellums released a report by Public Financial Management Group, a Philadelphia firm owned by former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb, which Dellums described as a "call to action" for his vision for making Oakland a model city - a place with a robust economy, safe streets and healthy residents who are engaged in their community.” -- I've only skimmed over the report thus far, but you can take a look at it right now. Just download it here: Oakland Consultant's Report

This man makes a great point about how the media did not show the peaceful protest at Fruitvale BART and did show the violent riot. The only problem is his video gets a bit nasty toward the end, so be warned. He's pissed. But part of the problem -- he does not know this -- is Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums called a press conference at exactly the same time as the BART protest and press conference. Why? DaveyD has his view:

More at SFGate.com : “(01-07) 19:14 PST OAKLAND -- The BART police officer who shot an unarmed man to death on a station platform early on New Year's Day quit the force Wednesday, avoiding an interview with police internal affairs investigators trying to get to the bottom of an incident that has prompted broad outrage. Officer Johannes Mehserle, 27, was supposed to make a statement Wednesday about why he shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant as the supermarket worker lay face-down at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland, BART said.”

From - “At midterm, Dellums faces growing criticism” : Of all of the people who tossed grenades at Mayor Ron Dellums, we have Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente saying this: “City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, who ran against Dellums in 2005, said the mayor has shown an unwillingness to make decisions. While the two men meet weekly, De La Fuente said many of his suggestions fall on deaf ears. "It's our job to manage and respond with more or less money," De La Fuente said. "Until someone says 'I want it tomorrow,' it won't happen."” -- Ok. This means that Ignacio is gearing up to run for Mayor again. Yes, he's shooting from the hip and that was not a calculated statement, but I know Ignacio well enough to assert that he feels Dellums is vulnerable, Perata would give his blessing, and the Mayoral prize would be his. Now if Robert Bobb were to run against him, Bobb would win. City Attorney John Russo could beat both ...

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — City officials will be swimming in red ink once again when they return to business after the New Year. Mayor Ron Dellums released a budget report this week projecting a general fund deficit of $50 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009, and $58 million the year after that. The bleak projections are due to an economy in recession and expected increases in spending on children's programs and employee benefits and pension obligations, among other things, Dellums' report said. The mayor will meet with the City Council on Jan. 12 to begin hammering out a spending plan for the two-year period beginning July 1 and to take stock of the city's fiscal picture over the next five years. "Most public agencies nationwide, as well as private businesses large and small, local and global, face a daunting financial future," Dellums said in a statement. "The city of Oakland is no exception. The economic downturn that we face is u...

More at SFGate : “Dellums said the city's deficit, which was $42 million this year, could balloon by 2012 to nearly $113 million, with revenues that year projected to be $456 million and expenditures at $569 million. The city has relied heavily upon property transfer taxes which have dwindled with the mortgage meltdown. Retail sales taxes are floundering while the costs of providing police and fire service and maintaining parks and other basic city services are rising.” -- This is a great time to create new Redevelopment project areas, if only to capture whatever property tax revenue we can, otherwise it had to be shared with BART, AC Transit, and other entities. Regardless, the zero-sum game is not fun and will lead to their loss. The end answer is a going to be a total bailout by the Federal Government, in some kind of way.

Chip Johnson SF Chron: - Loyalty or else in King Dellums' realm : “The city of Oakland no longer operates under a representative democracy - it's now a monarchy. And within the confines of that form of government, any criticism or disloyalty directed at the king - whether real or imagined - is dealt with. Her crime: She gave an affectionate hug to an elderly woman who spoke at a City Council meeting against a Dellums appointment to the city's housing authority commission in early October.” --- This is unfortunate but nothing new. It's what happens when you are in an arena where people are not compensated for creating wealth but for artificially giving loyalty just to get paid. Thus, the way to rise in such organizations is via the backstabbing Johnson points to. It's why we didn't get the 2005 Super Bowl. Forget the Raiders and the legal matters, it's this kind of rampant disfuction that is the reason. It's fair to say if you see a person of ...

East Bay Express | Blogs | Dellums Gets Off His Ass. Kinda.

There's a lot of talk about the possibility of California State Senator Don Perata running for Mayor of Oakland.  I love Don.  Great person who's done a lot for California, the East Bay, and Oakland.  But I think Perata running for Mayor of Oakland would be a big mistake. I think he'd lose.   The seeds of my educated guess based on study were planted in the last election of two weeks ago when, Oaklanders voted for "change" candidates:  Barack Obama for President;  Rebecca Kaplan for At Large City Council; Dennis Hayashi for Alameda County Superior Court Judge.   The last person, public interest lawyer Dennis Hayashi, should be of note because he ran against San Leandro Prosecutor Phil Daly.  Daly was backed by Perata and a host of local judges -- and lost.   By contrast, Hayashi was supported by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, California Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, and a host of liberal elected officials.  (Liberalism's back, so I'm us...

I've not yet confirmed this with Robert Bobb himself, but two sources have explained to me today that former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb has resigned from his position as a consultant with  Public Financial Management Inc.  -- the assertion from one source is that he did so to become Oakland's next City Administrator, replacing former City Adminstrator Debra Edgerly, who was fired in July of this year.   Bobb has been going back and forth, in and out of Oakland as part of a consulting engagement that saw the public service veteran analyze various aspects of Oakland management and operations in an effort to determine why the government's not working as it should and why service delivery has been so poor.   The possibility of Bobb's return was a focus on a recent debate between the two At Large City Council candidates Rebecca Kaplan and Kerry Hamill.  Both were rather lukewarm to the idea of his possible return, with Hamill more along the commentary of ...

I can't disagree more with my friend Chip Johnson on the idea of replacing district elections in Oakland with an all-at-large system. The simple reason is that having people represent a district means that economic resources are better targeted and people are more engaged than in an at-large system. Think about it. While the current system certainly has problems, what Chip forgets is that the ability to influence councilmembers in an at-large system will be left more to the rich and powerful than to small neighborhood activists and groups. What did he say? That's right. If you think that politics exists without the need or attempt to influence is some way, then you're dreaming. Big time. The fact is that the district process brings power closer to the common person. It takes less money, effort, and time when the geographic area is smaller and that produces better and more engaged citizens at the grass roots level. There's a reason the district election sy...

Last year, San Francisco Magazine devoted an e ntire issue to Oakland . It was a great work and I don't write that because I was in it. It did try to cover the base, although I felt it could have focused more on Oakland's African American businesses than it did. My overall impression was that the publisher wanted to present Oakland to the monied White establishment of San Francisco. I kind of said that in this video: But still it was a great work. One of the articles was on Mayor Ron Dellums and there I said that the good Mayor could do more. So Friday, I was contacted for my comments in preparation for this new article and I pretty much said the same thing. But what was of interest to me was what the reporter said OTHERS were saying about the Mayor. His supporters feels Dellums is doing a good job but that others don't know it. But what they point to are small projects, when Oakland really needs big projects and a coherent downtown development plan (We ha...

After weeks of discussions, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums finally got his request for $7 million in funding for new police officers. But buried within this victory comes a question of how to train them. A question posed by none other than Oakand Police Chief Wayne Tucker. According to the Oakland Tribune , Tucker said "It's going to be a real challenge to train the new recruits." That's a huge statement to make. It means that the police department lacks the people to train the new people. Makes you wonder who the heck did the planning for this allocation of money? Wow. If you think about it, that means there's less of an incentive to actually follow through with the Mayor and Council's decision and implement the new policy!

Jane Armbruster of Oakland wrote this letter to the editors of The SF Chronicle: Editor - Regarding Chip Johnson's Feb. 15 column, "Oakland mayor politicks as people are killed:" Does anyone really believe that the presence of Mayor Ron Dellums or any elected official would have prevented the tragic loss of life in Oakland that weekend? Could Mayor Ron Dellums, Sen. Don Perata, Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and Attorney General Jerry Brown have donned Superman outfits and put themselves in the paths of bullets? I worked to elect Ron Dellums because he understands that Oakland, and other cities, need more resources to address the deep-seated problems that produce murder in the streets. I would do so again because was in Washington, D.C., lobbying for resources. Unless he and other officials obtain more resources to address urban problems, governing cities is nothing more than administering scarcity. Administering scarcity means denying funds for filling some pot...