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The good folks on Myrtle Street have a "stone in their shoe" and it's not a rock, but a company called "Crime Scene Cleaners." As I reported earlier this week , the company, which cleans up crime scenes, is dirtying up relations with the locals. Here's what was explained on the blog " Myrtle Street Review ": It's been a rough week on Myrtle Street since Crime Scene Cleaners, Inc., owned by Neal Smither and based in Orinda, moved onto our block. Neal Smither, according to the Chronicle, owns a million-dollar house near the Round Hill Country Club in Alamo, so we are guessing he has no plans to relocate to West Oakland. Our neighbors went over to Crime Scene Cleaners to introduce themselves and were immediately faced with threats and shouting. Residents, apparently, are not allowed on the sidewalk in front of Crime Scene Cleaners or they will get a restraining order and it will take Mr. Smither "about twenty minutes" to arrange th

Proposal Would Raise West Berkeley Skyline. Category: Front Page News from The Berkeley Daily Planet - Thursday April 02, 2009 : “City planning staff have dropped a bombshell on anxious West Berkeley activists: a proposal that would double the height of new buildings and potentially open the area to office complexes. The staff proposal, if enacted without changes, could mean a West Berkeley skyline studded with 90-foot-tall office towers—a host of buildings as tall as the area’s currently dominant high-rise, the Fantasy Records Building. Even some of the more developer-friendly commissioners had questions after Assistant Planner Claudine Asbagh presented the concepts, which are the latest round of a City Council-mandated effort to ease development rules in the only part of the city zoned for light industry and manufacturing. ” -- And drive the poor out of West Berkeley. What's the deal with Berkeley's planning staff? A drive for more property taxes?

The above headline will catch you by surprise, but the wind is blowing in that way.  The point is that several people behind the scenes, in touch with the ownership group, and around the Bay Area are talking about how Oakland Athletics Managing Partner Lew Wolff has, as one person put it "blown $20 million" on the effort to find a new home for the Oakland Athletics. Another contact told me one would be "fired" if they lost even $8 million on such a development project so early into the process.  But the concensus for now is to let Wolff continue to do his work, but he's on a short leach.  The main problem is Wolff fell in love with the "baseball village" concept, where the ownership has to buy a lot of land not just for a baseball stadium but for residential development in the hope that the improved land sells for more than the group bought it for.  That works in a credit-health, prosperous economy, but in today's recessionary and deflationary wo

On March 22nd, the Parkway Theater in at 1834 Park Blvd in Oakland played its last set of films to a large audience, then stopped after 12 years of operation and a lot of memories. This is the video story I made from that night: A victim of the economy and a landlord seeking higher rents, Parkway Owners Catherine and Kyle Fisher made a decision to close the legendary business just four days before the last opening night. But no sooner did that happen than a group of concerned Oaklanders sprang into action. They set up a website called http://iliketheparkway.com and a facebook page called "Save The Parkway Speakeasy Theater", then held now three meetings. This video presents much of the action and talk from the second meet: a large event at Roos Cafe on Park Avenue, just three doors from the Parkway itself. Here's the video from the meeting: The meeting attendees divided into several sub-groups and determined possible future programming and business models fo

I just received this letter copy via email.  It comes on the heels of the news that A's Owner Lew Wolff called Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums to request a meeting regarding keeping the A's in Oakland.  SEN. BOXER WORKS TO KEEP A’S IN OAKLAND Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today sent the following letter to Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig: March 31, 2009 Allan H. (Bud) Selig, Commissioner Major League Baseball 245 Park Avenue, 31st Floor New York, NY 10167 Dear Commissioner Selig:             I appreciate the announcement you made yesterday that you are forming a committee to review the various proposals regarding the future of the Oakland Athletics.  As your committee does its work, I urge you to do everything possible to keep the team in Oakland.             As you may know, Oakland has recently gone through some difficult times and families there deserve some good news. As someone who splits her time between Washington, DC,

I have it from a very good source that Oakland Athletics Owner and Managing Partner Lew Wolff called Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums today to request a meeting to "explore options to keep the A's in Oakland".  That's great news and it comes on the heels of Monday's report that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig formed a committee to determine why a baseball stadium deal was not struck in Oakland, and Selig did so with wording that could have been read as a forecast of a move to take the A's out of Oakland.   But Wolff's phone call to Dellums today signals a new start to a recommittment to Oakland by the A's owner.  Meanwhile here's the stadium proposal the Mayor's Task Force saw last Thursday:

Now, I know what you're saying: that's a weird title.  Well it's borne of my unusual Sunday, March 15th 2009.  In this case I was on the indoor rowing machine and saw Van Jones who's a friend -- not buddy buddy so careful there -- getting out of his car and walking to the gym: Gold's Gym on Grand Avenue . Frankly, I've never seen him in the gym, so I was a bit surprised he was headed in.  I finished my 2000 meters in 11 minutes -- hey, I'm finally back to that rowing pace! -- and went over to talk to Van. "Hey!  I thought you were in DC", I said.  Van explained that he was leaving Sunday night and to a morning White House meeting.  He was excited about the opportunity, sad to leave Oakland, but apparenly humbled over the task ahead "We've got to go and make sure people get jobs" he said.  Unless, you've lived under a rock, you know that Jones has carved a niche as a green energy and sustainable jobs advocate.  His latest boo