Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Thanks to the Rockridge News.. D o you have an extra hour each week to help feed the Bay Area’s less fortunate   residents? Daily Bread can match you with a food source and needy organization, doing their best to find a convenient time and place for you. Your job will be to pick updonated food at donor sites for delivery to local storage. Some pick up sites are available in Rockridge. Got the time? Call Patrice Ignelgi, 526-3123, or e-mail her at patrice@ pcsyes.com .  Daily Bread also operates the Milk for Kids program, which provides milk donated by the Berkeley Bowl and the Village Market to children in need. To volunteer, or for more information, contact Patrice Ignelgi.

I really get sick of posting this , but it's part of the current "deai" in Oakland: OAKLAND — A male was shot by an Oakland police officer at 9:55 p.m. Friday at 24th and Adeline streets in West Oakland. The victim was transported to a local hospital. His condition is unknown. Police are not releasing any information on the officer involved in the shooting. This the second officer-involved shooting in eight days and the eighth this year. Mack Woodfox, 27, was fatally shot by police after an attempted traffic stop July 25.

On CNN there are extensive reports of a 5.8 Richter Scale Earthquake, centered in Chino Hills, about 29 miles south of LA. The quake wasn't large enough, fortunately, to cause major damage at least as reported thus far. A water main broke, but traffic's still moving through LA. And now the earthquake was reduced to a 5.4 Richter Scale quake in size by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Calfornia Hotel Resident Eviction Calls For Oakland City Attorney Action ASAP The California Hotel is the center of a battle between poor tenants and Oakland Community Housing, Inc. The California Hotel is a historic landmark building in Oakland currently owned by Cahon Associates, Inc., an affiliate of Oakland Community Housing, Inc. The building, located at 3501 San Pablo Ave. near the Oakland border with Emeryville, currhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifently has: • 75 single occupancy rooms, • 58 efficiency apartments, • 16 studio units, • a supportive services area, a large lobby and mezzanine, and • several ground floor commercial spaces. UPDATE: Congresswoman Barbara Lee's Office pointed to for inaction on this matter. Here's the problem. Last year, Oakland Community Housing put out this Request For Proposals to find a developer to, as the RFP put it: take over ownership and to convert the existing property into a model permanent supportive housing complex as

If you've never taken a canoe ride on Lake Merritt, and I have yet to do so, this is what it looks like, thanks to YouTuber laurenneutral -- the screen name:

California High Speed Rail Authority Bypasses Oakland After My Work to Avoid This California High Speed Rail , an issue I birddogged for Elihu Harris when he was Mayor of Oakland, is still alive and kicking. One of my major objectives was making sure Oakland was not bypassed in the formation of the route; something I also warned Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown about when he took office in late 1998. At the time I encouraged Mayor Harris to hand off the issue to Jerry Brown, which led to the pair arriving at a "Mayor's meeting" to advocate for Oakland's inclusion in the route system. In 1997, I successfully pushed for this article to be developed and ran in the SF Chronicle, to get the "Oakland View" in the public eye. At the time, Mayor Harris didn't believe the system would ever be funded, and so viewed it as a lost cause. But I argued that we could not afford to take a chance on that outcome and that at least Oakland should be considered. Mayor Harr

Easy Lounge Fun On Wednesday Nights Ok. Those of you who are frequent readers of this blog space know that I've had problems with the Easy Lounge and some "unusual" bar service in the past. But I'm here to explain that's all gone. I went Wednesday night and had a fantastically relaxing time. To be totally frank, the vibe at Easy Lounge is different when two female bartenders are at the helm as opposed to the normal set of males and testosterone-laden service. The star of the show is Sylvia, who's an informative and personable image for Easy. Indeed, she's "easy to get along with and fun to talk to after a day of work. It's also the first time I've ever seen Tom Cruise' movie Cocktail. Ok. Stop with the frowning.

Liza Zimmerman, AKA "Liza The Wine Chick" took me and a bunch of others to the C. Donatiello Winery , a great winery in Sonoma, just outside of Healdsburg, California. The full account is covered in The SF Examiner , but I can report that the limo ride and the winery and company were fun. Stay tuned for the video of the trip. If you want to learn more about Liza The Wine Chic, visit her website at http://lizathewinechick.com

This video covers the events outside San Francisco City Hall involving the first day of legal same sex marriage in San Francisco: Monday, June 16th, 2008 at 5:38 PM. A historic news and politics event. I went with the objective of determining the opinions of people in the crowd. I even met a woman from Oakland holding a sign that read "Hetero Couples For Gay Marriage".

http://www.tagamivision.com - I'm presenting TagamiVision videos on my channel as part of our partnership with TagamiVision. This interview is with Oakland City Council At-Large Seat Candidate, Charlie Pine.

http://www.tagamivision.com - I'm presenting TagamiVision videos on my channel as part of our partnership with TagamiVision. This interview is with Oakland City Council At-Large Seat Candidate, Kerry Hamill.

The office of Mario Juarez , the real estate business man running for the Oakland City Council District Five currently held by Council Prsident Ignacio De La Fuente, was vandelized. Someone took a hammer and smashed in each of the six windows and doors of the office Friday night at 10:30 PM. I talked to Juarez about this; he said he'd not seen anything like it outside of Mexico City. I also asked him if it was connected to the authors of the " Oakland City Crook " blog that takes every bit of bad news about him and presents it in one blog. I've never seen this happen in an election in Oakland. Sad. Regardless of his past, Juarez should be left alone.

UPDATE: According to sources, "Norma" was an employee who was released for a reason that the Juarez staff would not explain. Moreover, neither Mario Juarez nor any of his staffers would confirm or deny the information given to this blogger. It's alleged that she falsified documents in a way that would have been damaging to Juarez business at the time in 2008. Other sources claim that "Norma" had a cozy relationship with Oakland Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente - not sex cozy. Moreover, her email turned up only once in an Internet search - in this blog 2008 entry. One rule that I have learned in politics and life is to first, clean up whatever mess you've made before you do anything else. Second, pay your dues. We all make mistakes but we also must admit to them, and then work to clean them up. That rule is especially true for Mario Juarez, who's running for the Oakland City Council District Five seat currently held by Ignacio De La Fuente.

This is a 20 minute movie on the dramatic event that was the convention held in Oakland, CA to elect delegates to represent the 9th Congressional District in Oakland and Barack Obama. It drew 2,000 people. If you live in Oakland and are politically involved, you're going to see someone you know in this video. It was really a kind of homecoming for people in Oakland politics and of course Oaklanders who have been involved with the Obama campaign. I thank the people in the video from Peralta Community College District Chancellor Elihu Harris to my friends, all of whom are in the movie and listed, and the delegate winners in this movie who are just some of the Oaklanders that will represent Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, Jennifer Pae, Fred Feller , Mark Friedman, Ayelet Waldman , and Darlene Brooks. The estimate of 2,000 people was my own and came from first, eyeballing the event, second from figuring that of 101 candidates, each had perhaps 10 people aver

In another example of Oakland's chronic crime problem we have what seems to be an Old West story of many shootings in a very short period of time Four shot in Oakland in less than three hours Police unsure if incidents linked or gang-related Oakland Trubune Article Created: 04/01/2008 02:40:32 AM PDT OAKLAND — Four males were injured during a spate of shootings that happened Monday afternoon within less than three hours of one another. None were seriously injured, but police did not release the their names. "We'd definitely like to take the shooters off the street before something really bad happens," Sgt. Gregg Dutton said. In the first incident, an adult man and juvenile male were wounded in a drive-by shooting at 4:12 p.m. on the 1500 block of 23rd Avenue. Both were in stable condition late Monday afternoon. The second shooting happened at 5:35 p.m. on the 2700 block of East 10th Street. A teenage male riding a bicycle was shot in the abdomen by a gunman who fled o

I received this news in an email from the Adams Point Action Council: Friday, March 7 FIRST FRIDAYS AFTER FIVE! First Friday! 5–9 p.m. JJoin us every first Friday of the month for exciting programs and activities-tonight there's reggae in the café with Root Awakening; special performances at 7 and 8:15 in the James Moore Theatre by the Korean fusion jazz band Purirak, contemporary Persian ballet with the Shahrzad Dance Company, and modern dance by the Navarrete x Kajiyama Dance Theater; talks and book signings with Lonny Shavelson and Fred Setterberg, authors of Under the Dragon, and J. Gary Gwilliam, author of Getting a Winning Verdict in My Personal Life; shopping, yoga, and a great chance to make new friends. Don't miss the most exciting party in Oakland! Full cash bar-museum store and café open. All ages welcome. Included with museum admission.

A "redirect" is when one types "oaklandtribune.com" and is taken to "www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune" where the Oakland Tribune's website is actually located. But guess what, folks, as of 1:24 PM on Sunday, March 2nd, that "redirect" does not work. The report is that "Safari can’t open the page “http://oaklandtribune.com/” because it could not connect to the server “oaklandtribune.com”." No kidding. Try it and let me know if that happens for you. This points to the overall problem of news in Oakland in the 21st Century. That few people care about what's happening and such that a "large" newspaper like the Oakland Tribune would allow it's redirect to not work. People aren't used to typing www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune, as much as just simply "Oakland Tribune" -- that's just a fact. What's going on here is a crisis of lack of concern about news in Oakland, and the Tribune

This Oaklandish video reminds me of one that Disney may have made during that time. It promotes Oakland with a focus on the weather. What's also interesting is the use of "MOA" for "Metropolitan Oakland Area". "Here's the residents live happy lives; healthy lives.." Check it out.

The Guardian Angels established an Oakland, California chapter in 2007 to help fight crime. Now, they need more Oaklanders to help them. Here's more on the program and you can call 510-459-9566.