Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

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...

More at Oakland Tribune : “Retaliation for a shooting two days earlier appears to be the motive for a shooting Friday in West Oakland in which one woman was killed and another wounded by someone who shot at them from a pickup truck, police said. The dead woman was identified as Giovanna Warren, 24, of Oakland. The name of the other woman, who was in critical but stable condition Saturday, was not released. Police said she was a 22-year-old Oakland resident.”

See Jaeson Ma This is a touching account by Ma and has a great video at the site as well: “This past weekend after Christmas, I went with my sister to West Oakland to pass out food, clothes and prayers to the homeless. We went to Wal-mart the day before and bought a bunch of warm sleeping bags, got warm clothes from Goodwill and loaded up our car to do what we could the next morning. When I got out to the streets, my heart was shocked and broken at the same time. People were lined up waiting for us to give them any kind of help they could get. As I opened up my bag full of clothes the homeless swarmed quickly to take what was best for themselves. All the clothes disappeared in a matter of minutes. I was sad, because I wish I had more clothes to give but I only had so much.”

Morning fire damages West Oakland home - Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND - Firefighters extinguished a blaze in a single-family West Oakland home this morning less than half an hour after it was reported, officials said. The one-alarm fire at 949 W. MacArthur Boulevard was reported just before 6 a.m. and under control by 6:30 a.m., according to dispatchers. Nobody was reported injured and investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire.

So that’s what it’s like to get hit by a car… « Living in the O

"I love West Oakland," he said. "It is vibrant, real, varied and right in the heart of the whole Bay Area. It is a small town in the center of a metropolis," he said. "We are poor, well off, marginal, established, tolerant of each other and a bit suspicious of outsiders." Click here to read more about Bruce's story

I really get sick of posting this , but it's part of the current "deai" in Oakland: OAKLAND — A male was shot by an Oakland police officer at 9:55 p.m. Friday at 24th and Adeline streets in West Oakland. The victim was transported to a local hospital. His condition is unknown. Police are not releasing any information on the officer involved in the shooting. This the second officer-involved shooting in eight days and the eighth this year. Mack Woodfox, 27, was fatally shot by police after an attempted traffic stop July 25.