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I feel I'm more qualified than most to make this assertion: Mayor Ron Dellums YouTube page channel is a year late and lousy.  Why a year late?  Because I'm the person who told the Mayor's communications staff they needed a YouTube channel, among other things.  This came at a lunch I had last year with one of Dellums' communcations staffers who would regularly contact me.   I had considered writing a proposal for my company to be their new media consultant, but then thought better of it when I realized I may be giving up this blog's ability to write what it pleased unless I contractually asked for it.  Then I also pondered that writing such a proposal may just give them basic answers for free.  So I pulled back.   But over lunch, this YouTube page is one idea I said was basic.  But it's not enough to have one, and there's a lot of problems with the channel. For example the video on Dellums speaking at the Cathedral of Christ the Light has only 101 view

I just got wind of a new rumor that there's a petition going around to recall Mayor Ron Dellums. I personally don't want this, and prefer the rough-and-tumble of an election to sort things out, but it's out there I'm told. I think Mayor Dellums is trying to do better; to be better. Perhaps this is just the thing that makes a mayor go from not-so-hot, to good. This wasn't the first time someone floated such a recall effort. In fact, just last year in August , word was going around about a then-new website called "RecallDellums" that is not up now. Stay tuned.

It's not often I read that Chip Johnson's happy about something Mayor Ron Dellums has done -- come to think of it, that is true for me -- but in this case, he is. Former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb is returning to Oakland in the form of consultant to fix the managerial system he knows so well: Oakland's. He comes representing The PFM Group , which is a company based around an existing set of public management consultancies in America. His title is "Senior Managing Consultant" and the website has this bio: Robert Bobb is a Director with PFM in the Strategic Consulting practice. He has over 30 years of professional management experience in the private and public sectors at the chief executive level. He is nationally recognized for innovative leadership, with special achievements in public safety, finance, community development, employee development, and community empowerment programs. Mr. Bobb is the former City Administrator and Deputy Mayor for Washington

Look, I'm not writing this to defend fired Oakland City Administrator Deborah Edgerly' entire performance, but to act as a reasoned corrective. Phil Mattier and Andy Ross ' column today listed what Edgerly was entitled to in the way of monetary compensation: The bennies include: -- Nine weeks of vacation. -- Two weeks of management leave. -- Three weeks of executive leave. -- Ten weeks of sick leave (paid out at 33 cents on the dollar). It's a grand total payment of $90,024, city officials confirmed. Right. But what "city officials" forgot to tell Matier and Ross is that because Edgerly worked so many hours, she didn't take sick leave or management leave, or vacation pay. I like Phil and Andy, but I have to not only disagree with the way they present this information, but point an accusatory finger at the "city officials" who confirmed this information, because they could have took effort to tell Matier and Ross of the nature of the compensati

Nancy Nadel - Councilmember Releases Statement On Mayor Dellums / Deborah Edgerly Issue Oakland District Three Councilmember Nancy Nadel issued this statement on the City Hall circus that surrounded Deborah Edgerly's firing by Mayor Ron Dellums: Dear Oakland Resident, We are in the midst of troubled times in Oakland. I have been receiving many calls and emails about the issues surrounding the City Administrator and the Mayor’s response. As a scientist by training, I am intent on getting all the facts before rushing to judgment as I determine the best course for the city and continue my work to empower our residents to be active, productive and proud of their city. As I become aware of the need for deeper investigation, I will approach the appropriate level of government to provide it. I want to assure my constituents and all the residents of Oakland, that I will work diligently to expose and eliminate any corruption and just plain sloppy practices that diminish our city and dev

The call for a City of Oakland "hiring audit", given by both Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and Mayor Ron Dellums in the wake of the firing of Chief Administrative Officer Deborah Edgerly on Tuesday (and the focus of a July 15th City Council meeting), is a terrible, emotional, knee-jerk idea adopted by two elected officials who need to take three steps back and rethink their entire approach to this matter. They've already made a ton of errors. Dellums mistake is in appearing as if he has all of the managerial stability of a switch-hitter, changing from one way of dealing with Deborah Edgerly, then opting for a nuclear approach. Ignacio does, what he does all too well, pounce in to take advantage of a perceived weakness in his opponent. But his mistake is in his execution of this action. Remember that Dellums beat De La Fuente in the last Oakland Mayor's race, and now public perception of Dellums has reached rock-bottom, so low that Ignacio's playing

Yesterday, I was tipped off by an Oakland Resident that the Oakland Police have been wiretapping now-former Chief Administrative Officer Deborah Edgerly and say that the resulting evidence is incrminating. Now, I can't, as of this writing confirm this. It may be a couple of police officers trying to score points with an influential person, but I'm taking the claim seriously. Why? Well because it comes from people -- Oakland Police -- who can do it. I found this analysis of current California law, which reads: Both federal and California law enforcement officials may eavesdrop on and record telephone conversations without a court order under the so-called "one party consent provision" (18 USC 2511(2)(s); California Penal Code 633). In other words, if state or federal authorities have the consent of one party to a conversation (such as a government informant), the conversation may be monitored. This provision applies only to eavesdropping by law enforcement official