Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Ok, I found the rest of the info on the hostage story. ....It's in the Chron, so I guess I missed this... (03-10) 16:36 PST -- Oakland police hostage negotiators peacefully talked an armed customer out of Cybelle's Pizza at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and West Macarthur Boulevard after a one-hour standoff Saturday afternoon. Employees called police after 2 p.m., when the man approached the counter with a handgun sticking out of the waistband of his pants, said Capt. Frank Lowe. The customer didn't threaten anyone, but refused to leave the restaurant when patrol officers arrived and evacuated the employees and eight customers out the back door. The SWAT team was called and police blocked off streets. Neighboring businesses were ordered to shut their doors and keep workers and shoppers inside. A man who was with the armed suspect told police the two men had been up all night taking methamphetamine. After an hour, the pizza customer came out and kneeled on the sidewalk wi...

This is old news, but timeless in the way Robert Gammon tells it. Oakland Councilmember Larry Reid's lost attempt to gain Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums more City Council power is beautifully told here. But Larry's past and blind support of Oakland Council President Ignacio De La Fuente may have hurt him, here. In a way, it reminds me of when Larry voted with Ignacio toward an "action of no action" on the Super Bowl Bid, and even though he was Chairman of the Super Bowl Bid Committee. I was told he did so because he believed he was going to get a key committee chair position from Ignacio, and then it never happened. Behind the Fracas at Dellums' Inaugural When Larry Reid moved to unseat council president Ignacio De La Fuente, he bet that the new mayor would jump at the chance to control the Oakland City Council. He bet wrong. By Robert Gammon - East Bay Express Published: January 24, 2007 Ron Dellums passed on a chance to seize control of city hall just hours befor...

I attended the annual Fox Sports Network Baseball Luncheon -- held the first Thursday after the Super Bowl -- last week. In attendance were Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and sitting at the same table with Oakland A's Owners Lew Wolff and Jon Fisher, as well as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Giants heads Peter McGowan and Larry Baer, and Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. After the event -- videos from it will be on various blogs in the SBS network including this one -- I asked Wolff how the Fremont efforrt was going. He gave me a sincerely tense look and said "We've got a long way to go." And he emphasized "long." I think Lew's going to discover that the wheels of goverment in the Bay Area turn slowly. This fact and Lew's frustration with Fremont could work in Oakland's favor -- if Oakland does something.

Ben and Nate, obviously not happy that the Oakland A's are attempting to move to Fremont, have produced this video. In it they declare that Oakland is home to important social movements, like The Black Panthers and the word "Hella". Then to complete their protest, they ghost ride their Volvo. Here's the video...

According to the Yahoo! Message Board Oakland District Two Councilmember Pat Kernighan has conducted a poll to gauge resident's views on Ex-Oakland Raider Chester McGlockton's proposal for a new Fatburger to be built at the current Kwik Way site at Lake Park near Lake Merritt. Surprisingly -- and in the face of Kernighan's support of the project -- 70 of 126 in poll voted "no." You can vote with a click on this sentence. Here's a photo of the vote tally as it stands right now. It could change. Here's the text that Kernighan wrote: The Recent History at the Site The Kwik Way property has been owned by the Hahn family for about the past seven years. Three years ago, they proposed leasing it to McDonald's. The community organized massive opposition to the McDonald's, primarily because of the increased traffic and litter it would bring to an already congested area. Over 500 people attended the Oakland Planning Commission to oppose the McDonald...