Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

The San Francisco 49ers are good for San Francisco; they bring pride to the City and its residents. It wouldn't make any sense to take the 49ers out of San Francisco. The team's owners need to seriously consider and then reconsider what the team brings to the City and its neighborhoods, especially the neighborhoods around the stadium. Lennar Corporation's proposed new 49ers' stadium is a good thing for the residents of Bayview Hunters Point because it will bring with it 6500 new housing units, which means help for local small businesses, and a beautified, improved neighborhood. The 49ers are as much a City tradition as the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisherman's Wharf. Keep the stadium in SF!

In San Francisco, the second annual International African Marketplace (IAM) brought music, dance, food, art and crafts of the African Diaspora to the Bayview-Hunters Point district on three consecutive weekends in September. The IAM ran from 12 to 5 p.m. on September 15-16, 22-23 and 29-30 at the Bayview Opera House located at 4705 Third Street at Oakdale Avenue, easily accessible from the MUNI "T" line. Admission was free. The IAM is a celebratory series of events and activities of cultural diversity representing the African Diaspora and its cultural influences worldwide. It serves as a venue for all cultures of the African Diaspora and as a rallying point for coordinating resources in the African-American business, social service and art communities. It further serves as a cultural destination for tourists and residents. By presenting global goods and wares of the African Diaspora, local vendors will recreate a cultural destination venue within the Bayview-Hunters Point co...