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All I can say is, it's about time. I guess Jerry's got his mind on the AG race. But that's no reason to turn his back on this. After all, he's running to office to...fight crime, right? This may backfire for Jerry. Perata gathers forces to fight street killings Senator moved to act after Oakland boy was gunned down Jim Herron Zamora, SF Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, July 19, 2006 State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, said he has wanted for months to do something about Oakland's spiraling number of street killings. But it took reading a Chronicle story about the July 2 death of 14-year-old Jaee Logan -- who was shot from behind three times as he ran for his life -- to prod the senator into action. Jaee, a Pop Warner League football star, may have been killed in a case of mistaken identity as he waited for a friend in an unfamiliar neighborhood, police and his family said. "It made me sick to read about that kid dying that way," said Perata, wh

I just found right here online a June 16th 2006 letter written by Oakland City Attorney John Russo to the Acting Registrar of Voters David Mac Donald and on the matter of "Alameda County Counsel Opinion of June 14, 2006, to Registrar of Voters," a letter dated June 14th 2006. I'll link to it here, ...and present it below in case the link is destroyed. What does it mean? It means that the candidates for Mayor, both Ron Dellums (now Mayor-Elect) and Ignacio De La Fuente were concerned about the definition of a vote cast, and perhaps the De La Fuente campaign believed that some voters were picking candidates who were not "qualified" and thus their vote should not count. In other words if you place a write-in vote for "Zennie Abraham" that counts as a vote for me, and is considered, even if I never actually ran for mayor. Apparently the De La Fuente campaign was working to have the entire election results thrown out. It seems it was this opinion by R

Someone created a video of an apartment at 5499 Claremont Avenue as a tool to promote its sale, and then placed it on YouTube. Pretty good idea, except that the video lacks mention of a phone number or website to go to. The apartment itself is just $835 rent and a one-bedroom. Not a bad deal, except for the bathroom issue. Well I should reconsider that.. Here's the video.

Many Lake Merritt / Adams Point residents have complained of the lack of safe ways to walk from downtown Oakland BART to the neighborhood. One man was recently mugged at night just at 19th and Broadway and after leaving the BART station. Well, I propose an idea I call "Walk Pooling." It's like carpooling, but you don't get in an automobile. Instead, when you get out of BART station and are headed toward the Lake, you introduce yourself to anyone in general and say "Anyone for a Walkpool?" There's usually more than one person getting off at 19th Street, so chances are you will have some "takers." Moreover, you'll meet people from the area and because there's safety in numbers, you reduce the chance that someone -- including yourself -- will be harmed. The pool can then walk to the Lake, and people can split up whereever they wish, but it gets each person closer to home with a group of people rather than alone. Walk-pooling. Try it.

In brief. I was talking to a nice woman recently who -- she's white -- strongly asserts that the reason for West Oakland's gentrification is that yountg white couples came in and bought out black home owners. I don't think this is exactly true, not not far off. I think some of the reason is due to new home construction -- lofts and apartments -- and not so much any "buy out" at all. Moreover the new housing is affordable. More on this later.

This from the Yahoo! Message Board. A pattern of juvenile crime is unfolding in the Adams Point Neighborhood. Where are the parents of these kids? Mugging on Van Buren near Staten on Friday, June 30. An acquaintance of mine was driving along Van Buren at approx. 2:30 p.m. She told me she had seen a young Asian woman picked up and roughly thrown to ground by mugger who successfully grabbed her large purse. Victim screamed loud enough to catch the attention of several neighbors, as well as this driver. A terrific neighbor on Staten chased the culprit on foot but couldn't catch up before he got away. Meanwhile, my acquaintance followed the man to where a car + driver was waiting for him on Staten below Van Buren. She saw culprit get into a taupe colored, new-looking, shiny American-made sedan. Car then turned onto Belmont and got lost from view. She called police but Oakland 9-1-1 line was busy. Finally, she turned over info on get-away car to concerned neighbor(s), as she was on wo

I saw this on a Yahoo! Message Board. I removed the writers name to protect their privacy. Anyone know what happenedd around 1:30AM last night? We heard what sounded like 4 gunshots, a man shouting, and saw a parked white car zooming down Van Buren in a hurried pace. Given that there's no victims on the road, it could be that a passenger in the car was shot. Just wondering if someone had more infomration on it. According to Police emergency, they've had several calls on this incident.