Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Councilmember Nancy Nadel is hosting a town hall meeting on the stimulus package tonight at 7 PM at The Oakland City Hall Chambers at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, third floor. For more information, please contact Carletta Starks, 510-238-7032

Councilmenber Nancy Nadel (District 3, Oakland) is catching hell over this exchange with a property owner in her district. The basic news is that she does not see -- and I guess will not look to find out if -- any improprieties existed in the way the Landscape Lighting and Assessment Distict votes were counted. Check this out, which was on the Yahoo Message Board and the HarriOak blog: People may be interested in the following exchange between Nancy and one of our neighbors about the LLAD tax. For those who aren't following this issue, the measure would have been defeated by homeowners who are already struggling with taxes that typically range from $5000 to $12,000 a year. But the city wanted it to pass so it added extra weight to the votes cast by the Port of Oakland and by city-owned properties. Since this surely is illegal, the city is now preparing to be sued. (Which we will also pay for. Dishonest government is extremely expensive.) On top of the vote rigging, the State Supre...

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...

I have to admit I've seen this too many times before, including myself. Someone's upset that Nancy Nadel won District Three. (Or at least as of this writing -- hence the (*) -- it looks like she did. She had 51.7 percent of the vote, BUT there are still thousands of absentee ballots to be counted . If Nancy falls below 50 percent, then Sean Sullivan gets to challenge her again for a November do-over. But here's the next BUT: absentee ballots tend to follow the Election Day voting trend , so I continue...) In the past, it was Clinton Killian, who ran against her and lost in the 90s. Then Hector Reyna. Someone once tried to get me to run against her, but even though I thought Nancy was neglecting the area of Grand Avenue between Mac Arthur and Harrison, I know that I've never wanted to run for office and have always enjoyed the role of King / Queen Maker. Knock it off with the "Oh Brother" comment, will ya? Look. I can't remember a time when every...

Oakland District Three Councilmember Nancy Nadel retained her seat and assured that there would be no November runoff election, as she captured over 50 percent of the vote. Here are the totals, below: Contest # of Votes % of Total Nancy Nadel 3576 51.65 Sean Sullivan 1873 27.05 Gregory Hodge 1435 20.73 Write-in 40 0.58 As I wrote earlier, the low voter turnout favored incumbents like Nadel. As this study by the Institute of Research On Public Policy shows, areas that have high income, university-educated people, and where the unemployment is higher and the immigrant populations are largr, it can be argued that Oakland, even in Adams Point, has it's share of problems that caused this low turnout. Also, the challenging candidates didn't do enough to tell their stories to people around them, like me. And they didn't have Nancy's track record of doing "nuts and bolts" constituent work. For example, I backed Nancy and...

If one can get over the shake and compression issues with this video, it's worth listening to as it features the Oakland District Three candidates on Measure DD implementation (Measure DD raised and prioritized money for improvements around Lake Merritt) and has what is now a familar pattern: Hodge and Sullivan attacking, and with Greg Hodge giving a spirited explaination of how the Mayor and City Council inaction is to blame for Measure DD execution problems, with Nadel, the incumbent explaining that "We're working on it." To be fair to Nadel, it is a large undertaking and the law calls for public imput throughout the process. That alone makes it a complicated undertaking. This video's had only six views before I found it for a host of technical reasons that boil down to a lack of infrastructure and engineering knoweldge on Vsmoothe's part. That stat should change dramatically.

As we get closer to the weekend, we're going to have posts on who's endorsing whom. This one starts with the SF Bay Guardian, who took Nadel for District Three, and my good friend Oakland City Attorney John Russo, who's running unopposed, to name some of their choices. I will refrain from insulting those who pick a certain candidate I may favor, unlike some other bloggers. Its your thang, but I've got mine. Here's what the SF Bay Guardian wrote, in their own words: Oakland Races City Attorney JOHN RUSSO John Russo, who has made no secrets of his political ambition, failed in a bid to win the State Assembly seat for District 16 in 2006, and now he's running unopposed for reelection. Russo has voiced some pretty ridiculous sentiments: he told a magazine for landlords in May 2006 that he opposed all forms of rent control and was against laws requiring just cause for evictions. That's a horrible stand for a city attorney to take in a city with a huge popula...

Yes. Sean Sullivan still leads in our Oakland Focus Oakland City Council District Three race poll with 77 percent of the vote, compared with just over 11 percent for both Greg Hodge and Nancy Nadel. But look, only 35 people elected to take the poll. If I actually promote the poll and drive the numbers to about 200 people, then we've got something worth noting. Stay tuned.

This is the second part of a two-video movie on the debate between incumbent Councilmember Nancy Nadel, and challengers Greg Hodge, and Sean Sullivan

This is the first part of a two-video movie on the debate between incumbent Councilmember Nancy Nadel, and challengers Greg Hodge, and Sean Sullivan.

I'm presenting TagamiVision videos on my YouTube channel as part of our partnership with TagamiVision. This interview is with Oakland City Council District Three Incumbent running for re-election, Nancy Nadel.

Councilmembers Nancy Nadel and Pat Kernighan are hosting a Lake Merritt Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday, January 31st at 666 Bellevue in the Lakeside Park Garden Center, 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. This notice was posted on the Yahoo Message Board system and seems to have appeared without commentary of any kind. There may be a reason for this, and it may be that the group members are just being nice, but the town hall meeting is out of touch with what's happening around the Lake. The topics will be on zoning and high-rise issues around the Lake, which is interesting. In fact, their notice states the meeting will focus on: o Blocked view corridors - for pedestrians, autos, and residents o Creation of wind corridors o Light/glare o Shadows on open space and the lake o Adverse impacts to existing visual/neighborhood character o Community input on height standards/alternatives But I really think they need to focus on the crime problem and right now. With...