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During dinner with a good friend, I had a chance conversation with Oakland Police beat officers in the Lake Merritt area. After a lively talk, they told me to share with you this message: do not walk by yourself at night. Even as the area is safer after the arrest of the "Takeover Robbers" the terrible economy leaves many vulnerable. There's an increased police presence around Central Oakland, but the police totally do not want you to walk anywhere by yourself at night. Period.

This is from the Adams Point Yahoo! Message Board. Hello. On very short notice, City Attorney John Russo's office was able to arrange for Mr. Russo to join us at our meeting next week. He will take questions, and present some information about a new joint effort between the OPD, the Alameda County DA's office, and the Oakland City Attorney's office to crack down on "chronic non-felony crimes" such as disorderly conduct, illegal dumping, drug-related offenses, disturbing the peace and selling stolen property. See the website for the City Attorney: http://www.oaklandcityattorney.org/. Beat 14X Problem Solving Officer Madlansacay will be joining us for the first time in a few months as well, so if you have questions about recent crimes or related matters, please bring those to his attention during the Q&A with him. Below is the text of the meeting agenda. I will also post a copy in Word Document format in the Files section of the Yahoo Group. Incid

Credit to HariOak.com for this news: Lake Merritt lovers may have noticed that all the fountains have been turned off. Four of the motors have failed and are out of warranty. A replacement motor is broken. Three of the four fountains are owned by the La ke Merritt Institute , which is struggling to come up with the $7,000 it needs to replace the motors. Let's help! Please send donations, whether they are large or small, to the Lake Merritt Institute, 568 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610. The institute is a non- profit, 501C3 corporation, so donations are deductible to the extent of the law. Below is an excerpt of a letter that the Institute's Dr. Richard Bailey sent to the Adams Point Action Council, which is spearheading this fund drive. "Cheers: That is great! We could certainly use this kind of help. To answer your questions: "Funds for the aeration fountains should be sent to: The Lake Merritt Institute, 568 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610. We

This is what I remember about "9-11" -- the day that the World Trade Center was destroyed due to a terrorist attack by what we now know and call the Al Qiada terrorist group. I was living in Oakland, Ca at the time.

The familiar, long time home of Oakland Kosher Foods at 3419 Lakeshore Ave suffered a fire two weeks ago, causing about $30,000 of damage. " Jewish and Breaking News " Reports: The Shabbat afternoon fire at Oakland Kosher Foods two weeks ago caused more damage than was initially estimated, co-owner Yuval Atias said this week. The Oakland Fire Department originally estimated the damage at $30,000, but it’s a great deal higher than that with a lot of repairs in the offing, Atias said. “We’re trying really hard to finish two weeks before Rosh Hashanah,” Atias said. “So that would put it around Sept. 10 or 15, somewhere in there.” Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown Sept. 29. While repairs are being made, Oakland Kosher Foods is storing meat and other products in a San Leandro warehouse, but also offering delivery. Some meat-cutting, as well as catering preparation, will be done in the kosher kitchen at Beth Jacob Congregation, which is located about a mile from the damage

Lillie Jue is the manager of The Jue Trust and owns several buildings in Oakland and the Bay Area. A petite elderly woman of Chinese American decent, "Mrs Jue" as she's called out of respect, is someone you're compelled to like because she' parental in her manner. But what many have discovered -- including me -- is that she's a landlord that has several rent board complaints against her and questionable practices. Mrs Jue has been the subject of a number of emails I've received over the years and especially since I moved out of my apartment on Van Buren Avenue, after a spirited battle I waged against her. And no, the emails were not solicited by me, but my people who read this blog. Here's one I just got that the person insisted I publish. My husband and I rented an apartment from Mrs. Jue in 2004 at 740 Oakland Avenue, Oakland. I should have backed out from the beginning, as she had it listed for $1025. The day we went for lease signing, it w

It seems that Athol avenue is experiencing a new rash of robberies and break-ins. It's caused a new buzz with people online. This was from the Yahoo Message Board: Greetings Neighbors: My neighbor on the 400 block of Athol was also burglarized on Friday, maybe early afternoon. Similar M.O. They got TVs and laptops. They even left my neighbor's big flat panel TV on the street (their truck was probably already too full of other stuff). This was very upsetting, since they are only two houses away, and either I and/or my assistant were working on the house (the neighbors house is just out of sight). In hindsight, I think I might have seen these guys. I did give them a second look, since they were unfamiliar and driving unusually slowly. I watched but then they disappeared around the corner. So that is very frustrating. I feel very stupid for not taking more action. Here's what I remember of their description (please note, this is a fuzzy recollection based on a very brief vie