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More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! Right on the heels of the passage of the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act , which establishes a kind of "cap-and-trade" system for greenhouse gas emissions, we have a project I'm excited about as it will be the first power plant in America designed with a federal greenhouse gas limit. It's called the Russell City Energy Center and will be constructed in Hayward, California. The facility is slated to employ 650 people and generate a one time tax revenue of $30 million and an annual revenue of $6 million for the City of Hayward, according to the website for the proposed facility. What's exciting about the development that we're finally seeing a project that languished in development hell since 2001 finally see the light of day under the Obama Administration and the new act. The act calls for modernization of the electric grid; this is a brand new power plant. It calls for...

More at Inside Bay Area : “BERKELEY, Calif.—City officials say a student at the University of California, Berkeley has been diagnosed with tuberculosis. The Berkeley Division of Public Health and the University's health services are contacting about 225 students and faculty who may have been in close contact with the infected student. Health officials say tuberculosis can spread when someone with the disease coughs or sneezes and people in close contact "directly inhale the TB germs over an extended period of time." Officials say brief or casual contact with an infected person does not spread the disease.”

From The Berkeley Daily Planet - Thursday April 02, 2009 The BART strategy is unfolding and it spells a grim future for the Oscar Grant case and potentially even more unrest. The BDP reports that BART lawyers are saying Oscar Grants own actions contributed to his murder. I find that hard to swallow and it's a terrible message to have released into the public given the existence of the cell phone videos. BART continues to make PR blunders one after the other.

I was in Guatemala last summer for a wedding. A friend of mine from high school was getting married to a Guatemalan woman. Her family is fairly well-off. They are also not as dark-complected as your average Guatemalan - an observation that is, of course, less uncomfortable for me to make than for my friend's wife. Driving around Guatemala City, I had noticed that the fashion and cosmetic ads on billboards usually showed women who were also lighter-complected than most of the people walking around the city, as is often the case in the global South. One day my friend was busy, but his just-betrothed had to go to the mall. I offered to drive her. On the way there I pointed to one of the billboards: "Juana," I asked, "who are all these white people on the billboards?" "There are light-complected Guatemalans, you know," she retorted. "Yeah," I said, "and all two hundred of 'em were at your wedding." In some ways I feel...

  News is coming in that the election season has started early in Alameda this year and it looks like islanders are finally going to get a chance to make something exceptional happen out at the city’s run-down old Navy base. The backers of a plan to clean up and reuse the old Naval Air Station at Alameda Point today submitted the initiative language to the city. Now they will start collecting signatures to place the plan on the Nov. 3 ballot. This is frankly great news for Alameda. That old Navy base has sat unused and neglected for a long, long time. Finally a plan that someone can pay for is coming forward to get the place cleaned up and ready for real public use again. A lot of ideas have come and gone out there, but this is the only one makes any damn sense at all. Look, this has been a long time coming and I’m sure voters are going to get an earful from professional nimby’s who will oppose anything that even resembles a plan that could actually be achieved. And see my...

I just got this email from STAND on the Adams Point Messge Board: Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2009 9:10:52 AM Subject: RE-ZONING OAKLAND A New Look for Oakland? Did you know that the City is working on plans to change the zoning for all of Oakland? (This will govern how the new buildings look and how they impact the surrounding community.) It may seem odd at a time when almost all development has halted. However, as everyone knows, this area will recover. And, when it does, what the City decides now will be what we live with then. STAND has representatives on both the Commercial and Residential zoning task groups and is attending all meetings. We are hoping that the outcome of these meetings will be to encourage moderately scaled projects that preserve our light, air and views, while bringing us sustainable growth. We want to be proud of, and enjoy, the projects these new rules give birth to. Ideally, we want to preserve or enhance what is best about Oakland now. We are wary, however,...

More at Inside Bay Area : “SACRAMENTO — Some California lawmakers haven't let the state's financial calamity keep them from enjoying the good life; they've been using campaign cash for first-class travel abroad, expensive dinners, salon makeovers and visits to luxurious spas. Spending reports filed with the state covering the last three months show: Several lawmakers checked into the Fairmont Hotel on Maui in Hawaii on donors' dimes two days after the start of an emergency session on the budget in November. The lead state senator on budget issues joined colleagues who left the fiscal crisis behind to go to India, where they toured the Taj Mahal and stayed in the Four Seasons and other luxury hotels. The former state Senate leader used campaign donations to pay $2,163 in membership fees to an exclusive Northern California social club.” -- And this explains why our policies seem out of step with the times: the lawmakers don't feel the pain so there's no univers...

There's a planned BART Protest set for 5 PM in San Francisco, but why the heck someone would try San Francisco is weird to me. Whatever the case, this is what KGO put out: SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A different kind of obstacle is expected in downtown San Francisco Monday night, when BART protestors are expected to take their outrage across the Bay for the first time. The latest noisy protest over the shooting of Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station will be held in San Francisco around 5:00 p.m. and could affect traffic. There could also be a vocal turnout when BART explains a new review of its police Monday afternoon. Monday morning, BART riders found a quieter form of protest in their seats waiting for them as they boarded. They found flyers that look like something BART might issue, until you read the text. The anonymous author compares BART Police to a violent gang saying, "All members of this gang, which refers to itself as the "BART Police" are known...

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Art Michel, the Oakland school district police chief who detained a Tribune videographer last fall during a student protest, will leave the department this week, school district spokesman Troy Flint confirmed Tuesday. Flint would not give the reasons behind Michel's departure, saying that it was a personnel matter that had yet to be approved by the school board. But some familiar with the situation say the police chief's resignation might have been triggered — at least, in part — by concerns about compensation and benefits, rather than by his confrontation with photojournalist Jane Tyska on Oct. 31, which was captured on video. Michel retired from the Oakland Police Department as a sergeant in 2003 after 31 years of service. In 2007, he joined the newly resurrected Oakland school district force as a lieutenant and was promoted to interim chief in January 2008. But questions recently arose about Michel's employment in light of his retirem...

More at the Tribune From Tribune: ANTIOCH, Calif.—As more and more black renters began moving into this mostly white San Francisco Bay Area suburb a few years ago, neighbors started complaining about loud parties, mean pit bulls, blaring car radios, prostitution, drug dealing and muggings of schoolchildren. In 2006, as the influx reached its peak, the police department formed a special crime-fighting unit to deal with the complaints, and authorities began cracking down on tenants in federally subsidized housing. Now that police unit is the focus of lawsuits by black families who allege the city of 100,000 is orchestrating a campaign to drive them out. "A lot of people are moving out here looking for a better place to live," said Karen Coleman, a mother of three who came here five years ago from a blighted neighborhood in nearby Pittsburgh. "We are trying to raise our kids like everyone else. But they don't want us here." -- Antioch has been known for a kind of c...

More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Skeletal remains found Nov. 7 behind Skyline High School have been identified as those of an 18-year-old woman who was a former student at the school, authorities and relatives said Friday. But how Johnikka Jackson died has not yet been determined, and homicide Sgt. Lou Cruz said police are still "trying to determine if foul play was an element of her death." Her remains were found in a canyon behind the school by students who took some of the bones to the principal's office before police were called. The bones were found near a crude shelter made of wood and sheets. Personal items found at the scene and dental records led to Jackson's positive identification last week.”

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...

California Lt. Gov. adviser pleads guilty in child porn case - Inside Bay Area : “SAN DIEGO — An adviser to Lt. Gov. John Garamendi has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer. The U.S. attorney's office says Wade Sanders admitted Monday in federal court in San Diego that he possessed a computer with more than 600 sexual images of minors. The computer also had a 21-minute sex video depicting prepubescent girls. The 67-year-old Sanders was Garamendi's senior adviser for veterans and military affairs at the time of his arrest. He also served as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy under President Clinton.” -- All I ask is why do that?

More on Lend A Hand Foundation - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — The Lend A Hand Foundation toy drive is special for Jeanette Lewis and her 12 children every year. It's a time when their hearts are touched by the warmth of others through holiday giving. The sixth annual event held Saturday in East Oakland provided gifts to 200 youths who reside in homeless shelters, foster care and to others needing support with toys, educational items, clothing and food. "The foundation helps my family because sometimes times are too hard," said Lewis, 40. "I teach my kids that they can't have everything they want but just to be grateful and thankful."”

Undercurrents: The Bay Area’s Lack of Local Day-to-Day Media Reporting. Category: Columns from The Berkeley Daily Planet - Thursday June 19, 2008 : “By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor Thursday June 19, 2008 One of the great ironies of these times—something historians in our grandchildren’s time will probably better be able to understand and explain—is that we are experiencing an explosion of information and internet discussion concerning local events while simultaneously seeing a drying up of direct news media reporting on those events. The Berkeley Daily Planet, bless our hearts, has two reporters covering Berkeley city government, and another to cover the Berkeley Unified School District and the various dealings of the Berkeley School Board. But that is a rarity. Across the border in Oakland, no media outlet—aside from the East Bay News Service’s Sanjiv Handa—regularly covers Oakland City Council or Oakland city government, no media outlet at all regularly covers the Oakland Unified School D...

Bakery leader embraced guns long before editor's killing - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Yusuf Bey IV was heavily involved in guns and gun violence well before the killing of journalist Chauncey Bailey last year — a killing he is suspected of ordering — despite his claims to police that he didn't allow weapons at Your Black Muslim Bakery and disavowed their use. Recorded jailhouse telephone calls and three statements given to police before and after Bailey's Aug. 2, 2007, killing implicate Bey IV in a 2006 shooting of a car belonging to the former boyfriend of a woman with whom he was involved and a June 2007 shootout at a San Francisco nightclub. He was not charged in either incident.”

Don Perata shifted $1.5 million from PAC to his legal defense - Inside Bay Area : “By Josh Richman Oakland Tribune Contributors to Don Perata's political action committee this year might have thought their money would bankroll the attempted recall of state Sen. Jeff Denham or opposition to a legislative redistricting reform measure. But a day after the Nov. 4 election, and with only a few weeks left as state Senate President Pro Tem, the Oakland Democrat moved $1.5 million from Leadership California into his own legal defense fund, formed to counter a years-long FBI corruption probe. This sum dwarfs the California Democratic Party's $450,000 contribution to Perata's legal fund over the past year, which had caused an outcry from some party activists. It also towers above the $555,000 Perata had moved from his Taxpayers for Perata committee — ostensibly created for a 2010 Board of Equalization run — into his legal defense fund in several chunks since 2005. The transferred amo...

On the heels of my blog post on why I think Don Perata would lose if he ran for Mayor of Oakland, I had a great conversation with friends who disagreed with me and believed that Perata would win.  I introduced my logic, which is just that because it's not tied to any personal feelings about Perata -- I like him and always have going back to 1993 -- but a pure, cold look at the Oakland electorate.   I wrote that a "dark horse" candidate may emerge to beat Perata, and we talked about that person: Robert Bobb.    If the former and now some say "De Facto" Oakland City Manager threw his hat into the ring to run for Mayor, he would clobber Perata, and that's even if Perata got the endorsement of California Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, and most of the other members of the Ron Dellums / Sandre Swanson / Barbara Lee endorsement machine.  Bobb could beat that machine.  Bet on it.   Why? Well, let's take a hard look at this.  California Senator Perat...

This is listed under the file heading of "What was he thinking?"  I've learned using Huffington Post's "Fundrace" system that our own Robert Bobb, who's listed as a "consultant" with the adress P.O. Box 77556, Washington, D.C.,  gave $1,000 to Hillary Clinton's run for president, but nothing -- zip -- to Barack Obama! That's disappointing to learn for this Obama backer and volunteer. I got after Mayor Dellums for not backing now President-Elect Obama because doing so would send a message to young Black men in Oakland that he supports the future, but I would have guessed Mr. Bobb would have certainly backed Obama.   Now, that colors a lot of thoughts I had about Bobb and makes me reconsider past his actions when we were involved with The Super Bowl. I crossed-checked the Robert Bobb listed in Chicago and who did give to Barack's campaign and he's a lawyer in the windy city. But it says something not so good when older Af...

This is an update of my first video on a clash between supporters of state Prop 8 and those opposing it. I went back to the same MacArthur and Lakeshore corner featured in the first video.