Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com The Oakland Gang Task Force , that was the much talked about unit of the City of Oakland's Police Department in the Discovery television series "Oakland Gang Wars", has been disbanded. In fact, this action happened just about a month ago according to sources who do not wish to be named. The reason for the action is a combination of budget cutting and political infighting out of the view of Oakland's City Council. Reportedly, but I offer this is not the exact explanation and only a caricature of entire story, the eight-person unit had one officer who was not well liked by the commanding sergeant, who wanted him reassigned. The other officers involved like and respect the officer and so disagreed with the planned removal. That set in motion a number of actions, some involving high level OPD execs, that my sources did not fully disclose but had something to d

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Kanye West has done it again. Proving that President Obama was right and he indeed is a jackass just weeks after his celebrated break in on Taylor Swift as she was accepting the award for "Best Female Video of The Year" at the MTV Video Music Awards... Kanye West opened his mouth and told a TMZ.com reporter that he wanted chicken because "I'm black." You know, there's an old saying that if you forget the past you're doomed to repeat it. In this case, younger African Americans like Kayne obviously weren't instructed that being black does not come with a set of instructions or limitations, as we were told in the past, as much by ourselves as by others. This - his comment - strikes a heavy nerve with me (and I don't care if he was kidding) because when I was little, specifically between the ages of 4 and 13 while growing up on th

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com From the blog Oakland Online we have this bit of scary news. There's a murderer lurking in the Glenview District, which is defined primarily by Park Boulevard as it extends to Montclair. Oaklander Online reports : A week has gone by and the suspect for the triple-shooting on Canon Avenue remains at large. On Wednesday, September 23, a man shot and killed Damon Wessel, 48, and Michael Caldwell, 44 in a four-plex less than half a mile from Park Boulevard. Shots fired at around 8:40 p.m. and a third victim, whose name has not been released, was in critical condition last week at Highland Hospital. More than a dozen police officers arrived at the scene when one of the victims called 9-11. Sgt. Gus Galindo said that those shot knew the gunman.  Visit Oaklander Online for the full story.   News of the murders brought the homicide rate up to 85 for this year and rattled neig

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com I've got a new favorite local blog - well one of them. It's called " Knife Catchers " and covers Alameda real estate in a cool way with the blogger, "L. Opine", who's tone, while rather acerbic, is entertaining and makes the otherwise boring task of reading about housing fun. For example, she writes : This is the third time I've sat down to write a post about tiny 318 Pacific Avenue: I find the neighborhood so depressing it's difficult to muster the energy to research even just a few facts. But in the interest of comprehensiveness, here goes 318 Pacific Avenue, a "wonderful Victorian Farmhouse" which is neither wonderful nor Victorian (nor a farmhouse, really)...Anyone paying more than $275,000 for this property given its tiny size and pathetic location just a few blocks from the barren desolation of the old Naval Air Station i

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com At the 2009 NFL Draft, after USC quarterback Mark Sanchez was selected 5th by the New York Jets (and finally had a terrible game against the New Orleans Saints today), I opened the media interview by cracking on USC: Mark Sanchez just gave a chuckle when I said that the reason he left USC was because he knew Cal would beat the Trojans this year. Well, forget that. Cal, er, we, lost big time Saturday, 30 for them, to 3 for us, and frankly it wasn't that USC was that much better but that we just didn't execute well or call the right plays. Or as my Cal buddy Greg Heywood put it the following today, "When USC safety Taylor Mays catches Jahvid Best on a reverse, you know it's gonna be a long day." It sure was. Mays is 6-3, 230 pounds of hitting machine. So why call a reverse and not a double reverse since USC's so fast? Cal's best effort

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com I have it from a very good source that the Oakland Redevelopment Agency is upset with SMG Coliseum, the managers of the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, because they charge the organization is withholding information needed to complete a bid for Oakland to host a FIFA World Cup Soccer Game. I believe it because the source is a good one and SMG Coliseum has done this before. To me. When I was working to bring the 2005 Super Bowl to Oakland . What happened in my case was that I needed specific drawings of the Coliseum to have for the Super Bowl bid package we at the Oakland Alameda County Sports Commission were creating. Sally Roach, who was representing the Stadium Management Group at the Coliseum at the time - 1999 - told me they didn't have the drawings. Deena McClain, who was then and is now again working as the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum Administrator,was led t

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! | Visit YouTube | Visit UShow.com Wow, what a year for the passing of people who formed our modern culture. From Michael Jackson and Farrah Faucett to Naomi Sims, the World's first black supermodel. She passed away of complications due to breast cancer last month at just 61 years old. By being the first black supermodel, Naomi Sims ironically opened up modeling and the fashion industry for a wider range of women regardless of race. Today fashion and modeling are so much a part of our mainstream culture that BARE Magazine has achieved much success as a college-run fashion magazine at UC Berkeley. Naomi Sims is the focus of this blog and of a renewed push for breast cancer fundraising and awareness. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 but thanks to a then-new drug called Femara , she's still doing very well. On October 1st, she turns 75 years old.