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My Cal City Planning Grad School Classmate Ricardo Noguera's brother Pedro Noguera wrote this article in 2002, but it's worth reviewing. With academic failure so persistent and widespread one might wonder why a community with a reputation and history for political activism would not have acted long ago to radically reform its schools. Oakland was after all the birthplace of the Black Panther Party, an organization that took on another public institution that was perceived as failing to serve community needs, namely the police department, which it accused of engaging in rampant harassment and brutality. Oakland’s history of Black leadership and political activism goes back to the 1930s when it served as the national headquarters of the powerful Sleeping Car Porters Union (Franklin and Moss 1988). In the 1920s Oakland had one of the most active chapters of UNIA (Universal Negro Improvement Association - the largest Black political organization in US history headed by Marcus Garv

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.

On June 19th, Oakland Council President Ignacio De La Fuente gave a concession speech at his headquarters and after learning that Ron Dellums secured enough votes to become Mayor-Elect of Oakland. De La Fuente pledged to keep working hard for Oakland, and indeed has done so, presiding over last night's Oakland City Council meeting, where the council approved the plan for a new Kaiser Hospital complex. Here's the InsideBayArea.com video:

In both a funny commercial and a good use of the Internet, Jerry Brown's record on crime in Oakland is attacked by his Republican AG opponent Chuck Poochigian. The commerical compares Jerry Brown to such fictional crime fighters as Batman and Dirty Harry, and not in a favorable way. It's totally funny. But it's also a weird kind of boost for Jerry in that it uses his name rather than Poochigian's, who's name recognition is far lower than Brown's. It goes like this: "There have been some classical fictional crime fighters: Batman, Dick Tracy, Sherlock Holmes and Dirty Harry. But for sheer audacity, one stands alone ... Jerry Brown. During Jerry Brown's time as mayor of Oakland, burglaries are up 9 percent, robberiesup 18 percent, auto theft up 84 percent, and homicides up a staggering 54 percent. And now this caped crusader wannabe says he wants to do for all of California what he's done for Oakland. ... Holy scary thought, Batman!"

I remarked to a friend that a visit to the Oakland Lake Merritt Farmers Market -- and to stores on Lakeshore -- revealed something I've never seen before: very few African Americans. It was the first time in all my life that I was able to look into a place like the Lake Merritt Cafe and see not even one black person for a time. The friend remarked that Oakland had more white people than black -- so I found this article below. And while it may not be accurate, it does seem that the flight from San Francisco's high housing costs have produced this dynamic. And it also may -- in fact I assert that it does -- explain the rising level of racism in the City's core neighborhood. Oakland historically has been the most diverse and less segregated city in America. I fear that era may be coming to an end. To be sure, the picture is more complex. There are more interracial couples than in the past, but the city itself seems to have divided into black, Latino, and white areas, wi

Wow. One person keeps sending comments about the incident at Easy, and no, I didn't post them. First, the matter is a painful one for me. Second, this person not of color doesn't seem to get that. Third, I made my point. Fourth, the owner sent an appology. Fifth, the person wasn't there. Sixth, someone else made the same "explain it away" comment -- with insults. Enough. What's equally hard for me to experience is the constant example of the racial dvide that exists -- and is growing -- in Oakland as based on the fact that African Americans I talk to understand what I experienced and some -- not all by any stretch, thank God -- white Oaklanders try to explain the matter away. Again, the owner of Easy emailed an appology. When I was a columnist with the Montclarion, we didn't publish every letter we received, but we knew who wrote it. By contrast, the people who tend to comment don't want you to know who they are, which (they think) leaves

A nice story that shows a different side of Oakland. Transvestites charm macho Fruitvale bar Glamorous performers dazzle crowds with their weekly show By Angela Hill, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — Danny Hernandez came out of the closet-sized dressing room in a gown that was sequined enough for a woman but made for a man. A little thicker in the shoulders. A little straighter in the hips. Techno-mariachi music throbbed a deep pulse -- not the kind of loud that hurts your ears, but the kind of loud that hurts your internal organs. A rainbow of colored spotlights twirled. A smoke machine puffed. The crowd in the tiny bar went wild, and the Mexican transvestite show was on. "The Queens of the Night" -- a troupe of four transvestites and one transsexual — perform at La Frontera nightclub in Oakland every Tuesday night. Kind of an odd sight to behold in this straight bar in the middle of the Fruitvale, and often an uneasy fit with macho Mexican traditions. But there'

PRESS ADVISORY FROM Office of Councilmember Nancy Nadel, District Three Contact: Marisa Arrona, (510) 238-7031 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 23, 2006 OAKLAND CITY COUNCILMEMBER NANCY NADEL INVITES COMMUNITY INPUT ON PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF THE LAKEVIEW LIBRARY DOG PARK. Thursday, June 29, 2006, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Resurrection Lutheran Church, 397 Euclid Avenue at Van Buren. Oakland, CA - Please join Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel, the Department of Public Works, the Northlake Neighborhood Group, and O'DOG at a public meeting to review and comment on the preliminary design of the Lakeview Dog Park. The Community Meeting will take place on Thursday, June 29th, at 7:00 pm at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Oakland. The idea of a dog park near Lake Merritt was first proposed by the Northlake Neighborhood Group back in 1998. This unique park-within-a- park will have garden pergolas at both ends and the outer fencing will be covered with hummingbird and butterfly friendly plants.

Two of the best hours of mu life were spent talking to a very wise Lionel Wilson at a table in front of Starbucks on Lakeshore in 1997, just one year before he passed away. We talked about what it means to carry on with your goals regardless of opposition. He gave me a lot of advise. But the best thing he told me to do was to listen to people. After five years, the downtown building that carries his name-- the terminal also known as the "Southwest Terminal" also has his name -- finally has the appropriate designation. Rededication honors Oakland's first black mayor Name of Lionel J. Wilson, who fought against discrimination, emblazoned on city building By Zuri Berry, CORRESPONDENT - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — In his 13 years as Oakland mayor, Lionel J. Wilson worked to stop discrimination in the city, rebuild downtown Oakland and create jobs for minorities. Wilson, who died of cancer in 1998, was elected the first black mayor of Oakland. He became mayor in 1977 after

Someone recently asked me why I quit the City of Oakland after our Super Bowl work. I state "our" because the Oakland Alameda County Sports Commission, which I created and grew to a board of over 45 people, did do a lot of work. The handwriting was on the wall for me when, during a October 25th 2000 meeting with the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority to gain a vote to approve a contract between the NFL and the authority for the use of the stadium and arena for the 2005 Super Bowl, I learned from Ignacio De La Fuente -- the authority's president -- that he and Mayor Jerry Brown and a few others (including California Commercial Investments; Phil Tagami) had held meetings on the Super Bowl behind my back. That news also fit with callls from the NFL asking me why certain members of the City of Oakland were calling them to ask questions about the Super Bowl rather than ask me those questions. But when I got that information from Ignacio, I hit the ceiling. Enough wa

"Choose or Lose The A's" Meeting - June 20th 2006 Watch the video While many -- probably you -- were watching the epic Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks NBA Finals game, a giant handful of Oaklanders were holding the third meeting of a group called "Choose or Lose The A's". Hey, I didn't make up the title. That honor belongs That honor belongs to Robert Limon, who organized this effort which has picked up steam and will be marked by it's first event, a July 7th tailgate party at the Oakland Coliseum in the "B" parking lot. The group's idea is to drum up enough fan outrage to force elected officials to pay attention to and take real action leading to the retention of the Oakland A's in Oakland. This vlog shows one of the planning meetings of the group, of which I'm a member. But we encourage you to get involved in any way large or small -- even if it's just sending an email link to this vlog to someone you k

This guy -- see "V Smoothe" comments several "Easy" posts below -- keeps sending comments basically trying to explain away what happened to me at "Easy." The owner sent an appology, but since I've learned this guy hangs out there, I'll not return to Easy at all. I have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with people like that. He's part of the problem; he doesn't understand what modern racism is and how many African Americans endure subtle forms of racism every day. Perhaps from him. He claims to know the employee who should have been fired for the way he treated me, and if this is the case, it seems to be as if he's trying to justify his actions without seeing a thing. Moreover, he's just effectively undone the work the owner of the establishment did in making me feel comfortable about the idea of returning to "Easy" -- forget it. A 1998 poll conducted by the San Francisco Chronicle seems still to apply h

Ok, so I'm sitting here at Gaylord's working on my computer when a Asian guy who's obviously without a home walks in to the establishment's door and takes a right turn, but before he can do anything this super-skinny, two day-old stuble (no mustasche) white guy with a painter's cap and a blue shirt-not-tucked-in and jeans and a face not unlike that of "Chucky" just gets up from his table, and angrily points at the man saying "You're coming in here asking for money." As he says this for me everything seemed to just slow down, as I was wondering if I should move now to protect my computer. So, the homeless guy picks up a chair and the painter cap guy picks up one and they kind of go at it in a weird way. Then some other patron -- a white man in a brown leather jacket with short hair -- rushes in and tries to subdue the Painter's Cap guy and ends up pushing him to the ground of the cafe. While this goes on I and others moved away and I c

I've never missed an election since I was old enough to vote and attending Skyline High School. And in all those years, I can only recall once -- I think 1998, but I'm not sure -- when Oakland voters rejected a bond issue. This time was not one of them. Bond victory thrills Oakland schools Administrators are eager to fix infrastructure, but proposition's opponents fear lack of oversight By Grace Rauh, STAFF WRITER - Oakland Tribune OAKLAND — Caroline Yee can hardly contain her excitement about Measure B, the $435 million Oakland school district bond that snagged 77 percent of unofficial votes in Tuesday's election, far more than the 55 percent required to approve it. The principal of Lincoln Elementary School in Oakland's Chinatown is thrilled, elated and delighted, she said, letting the adjectives trip over each other Wednesday. "No kid deserves to be in a portable (classroom) with broken window shades, poor ventilation, crowded over," she said, referr