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I found this video serendipitously and had to post it. It's totally funny. It reads that it's from the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, but I can't see Joe Haraburda, the Chamber's executive director, approving anything that has the comment "Well, that's cause you're a dumb-ass." Check it out:

This was posted at the Adams Point message board Dearest neighbors of the Cleveland Cascade, Our design team has been working hard and they're now ready to unveil the proposed Master Plan for the Cleveland Cascade for your input and comments! Please join us -- and the Oakland Public Works Agency -- for a Public Meeting on Monday, August 28th, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Lakeview Branch Library 550 El Embarcadero The landscape architects will present the proposed Master Plan that would guide the first phase of construction and site rehabilitation, funded by the $300,000 of Measure DD money allocated by the city council. This meeting is as much our opportunity to learn from you as vice versa. Please come, share you reactions, praises, criticisms, and hard questions. Your input will make this project stronger and better. It's your money and your Cascade. We'll be taking careful notes. And please stop by our updated web site at http://clevelandcascade.org

Click on the title of this post to read the blog post over at SBS NFL Business Blog.

Last Saturday as I was walking down Lakeshore, someone asked if I would sign a petition to force the Oakland City Council to adopt a new plan for the development generally called "Oak To 9th." According to the group sponsoring the petition drive, the Oakland City Coucil didn't keep a promise to preserve the gigantic 9th Avenue Terminal on the site. I signed the petition, but remarked that with just one week ago, I didn't see how they were going to get the 10,000 additional signatures they needed. But they got them. Here's the total story: Oak to 9th critics say referendum drive successful Group collects enough signatures to force council to reconsider approval of development proposal By Quynh Tran STAFF WRITER - MONTCLARION With 30,000 signatures in hand, critics of Oak to 9th development hope to force a new plan along the 64-acre swath along the Oakland Estuary. The signatures were submitted to the city clerk's office on Thursday. "We're extremely

And on top of all this, we've got more great farmers markets than ever before. Oakland attempts to woo gourmet food industry By Marton Dunai STAFF WRITER - MONTCLARION Karen Robert Jackson always wanted to get into the food business. A successful filmmaker at Pixar with such hits as "Toy Story 2" under her belt, Jackson decided to realize her dream two years ago and teamed up with her husband to buy Crunchy Foods, the San Francisco-based makers of Suzy's Biscotti and other fine bakery products. "We were looking for the next thing, a company that wasn't necessarily high-tech, but we could do some process improvements through better planning, tracking, forecasting," she said. To make these changes would require moving to a place double the size of the San Francisco location, she said. The problem: There was no suitable and affordable place in San Francisco. So Crunchy Foods relocated to Oakland last year, joining a recent throng of small- to medium-sized

John Flores deserves a city-wide party for how he's steered Emeryville, over the years. I first met John when I got out of Berkeley's City Planning grad school and about one-year after I worked at the Oakland Redevelopment Agency. He hired me as a young consultant and I did an analysis for he and the Emeryville Redevelopment Agency. What I did tell John was that one of my first jobs at the Oakland Redevelopment Agency as an intern was to develop an economic argument for the placement of a shopping mall, rather than an EBMUD wet-weather storage facility, at what is now the East Bay Bridge Shopping Complex in Emeryville, but in Oakland's redevelopment area for West Oakland. My next times with him were in a different role: as columnist for The Montclarion, and fighting Kaiser's proposed move to Emeryville in 1994. I wish John all the best. When John started, Emeryville barely had a population -- it was just over 4,000 people and many of them were more in Oakland than

A sad story. This is where my stepfather's funeral was held. (Click on the title to learn more.)

The trend predicted 15 years ago is becoming reality. To me, it spells interesting marketing and retail -- for example a store that caters to young Filipino's called "Beach" in Daly City. Fascinating. Census: Minorities overtop whites Caucasians now make up less than 50 percent of Bay Area population but trend unlikely to continue, experts say By Michele R. Marcucci, STAFF WRITER - Oakland Tribune Non-Hispanic whites now make up less than half of the Bay Area's population, while the numbers of Hispanics and Asians continue to grow, census data released today show. But demographic experts believe the trends may slow in California as immigrants, looking for jobs and cheaper housing, head to other states. The Bay Area's foreign-born population also is on the rise, and more of its residents spoke foreign languages in 2005 than in 2000, the data, which mirror state and national trends, show. Non-Hispanic whites made up 46 percent of the Bay Area's total populat

The City of Oakland is generally accused of not being politically aware, and here's more proof. When the City advanced this measure, it should have known that -- in an environmentally concious Oakland -- people would be up in arms over a plan to eliminate 224 -- 224 trees! Folks, there aren't that many trees around Lake Merritt, so the majority would have to come from the park next to Children's Fairyland. That's just not something that should happen. That area is one of the true treatures of the city and is at its best i the summer months as a place to go to get away from it all in the middle of it all. Oaklanders in battle to save 224 trees Three file suit against city's renovation plan at Lake Merritt By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER OAKLAND — Three Oaklanders, upset with plans to chop down 224 trees around Lake Merritt as part of a renovation plan, filed suit against the city of Oakland Tuesday. The lawsuit claims the Oakland City Council's approval of

According to the Adams Point message board, someone's stealing the trash cans you and other lay out every morning to be collected by garbage workers. Reportedly 60 of these cans have been stolen to date and with no end in sight. Oakland police ask us to watch out for people that are impersonating public works workers, but how the heck is anyone supposed to know who they are? I mean what "marks" do we look for? A bent shovel? I don't know.

Google's started this with their free network in New York. Now they want to wire San Francisco, and I'll bet we're in the loop too. But this story will not reveal that. Municipal wireless networks latest rage By Barbara Grady, Business Writer - Oakland Tribune OAKLAND officials are thinking of joining the WiFi age and deploying a municipal wireless network to give their citizens and workers free Internet access. WiFi networks allow people to access the Internet from various "hot spots" around a city from laptops or handheld wireless devices without plugging into a jack or needing a specific Internet service account. Commercial WiFi hot spots exist in hotels and coffee shops in most cities, including Oakland. But free municipal WiFi networks, which are under planning in major cities from San Francisco to Philadelphia, are designed to give broad Internet access coverage from outdoor and indoor locations across a city. Only a handful of smaller cities have WiFi net

Studio One needs to raise money, which you will discover as you read this Oakland Tribune article. Studio One arts facility has rich history FRIENDS of Studio One are eagerly awaiting completion of renovations to the city-owned arts facility — located in a 100-year-old former orphanage on 45th Street — so classes can resume there once again. Some $10 million in funds from Measure DD, approved by voters in 2002, were allocated to retrofit and reconfigure the structure and make it handicap accessible as well. During construction, Studio One classes temporarily are being held in downtown Oakland at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts on Alice Street, also a historic landmark building (once the home of the Oakland Women's Club). Summer classes are under way. Funds will still be needed for art-related furnishings once the North Oakland facility reopens, so the Friends are hosting a Sept. 27 "Splash for Cash" fundraiser from 3:30 to 6 p.m. at the Temescal Pool, 371 45t

For several years, Harold P. Jones has served as Deputy Executive Director for External Affairs. I've known Harold and had a great deal of respect and admiration for the job he's done over that time. But this month he steps down and gives way to a person who's been a friend of mine since -- I guess -- 1991: Libby Schaaf. Most recently Libby was an aide to Oakland Council President Ignacio De La Fuente and for a time to Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown. Harold personallly sought Libby for the job, and he could not have made a better choice. Congratuations Libby!

Broadway Grand is a development under construction at the corner of Broadway and Grand Avenue on the northside of downtown Oakland. As the video will show, it's a large mixed-use retail and apartment development which because of its size and placement will alter that part of downtown Oakland forever. Broadway Grand sits in what was considered -- and by some still is thought to be -- a sketchy area with drug dealers, robbers, and the homeless. But what's being constructed in these areas -- housing -- has served to bring the "hounds to the hunters" and contributed to an increasing crime rate. I'm pro-development, but I think with the number of apartments and condos going up around downtown Oakland, it's time we asked the question -- yet again -- of what kind of Oakland we want to have. In 1991, we had an Oakland community participation forum called Oakland Sharing The Vision. "OSV" as it was called drew 500 Oakl

Wow. The East Bay Express just can't stand that Ron Dellums ran for mayor and won. They're so angry that -- as a friend of mine put it -- the black man won, they have to dump as much drummed up negative press about him as possible and as fast as they can. Just a look back shows that Jerry Brown didn't receive this kind of treatment from The Express in 1998. Not even close. Everyone knew that Jerry had not taken office yet, so the focus was more on Mayor Elihu Harris and transition than Jerry. The Express misses all the real stories, like the ones about De La Fuente aides who were left scrambling for positions outside his office after the June election. Or the matter of rushing so many decisions through City Council before the season's done. All missed by The Express. Let's hope they eventually stop seeing red long enough to really cover what's going on.

This is great news, but the question about appropriately funding the Landscape Lighting and Assessment District must be asked. I'm also curious to know what projects were removed from the City's vast list of reserves. Real estate boom gives city a surplus Oakland council uses windfall for repairs, police technicians and reserve By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE OAKLAND — The city's $16.1 million budget surplus will be used to fund a variety of programs, including expanded tree trimming, roof repairs and three new technicians to analyze DNA in sexual assault cases. The windfall, due to the still sizzling real estate market in Oakland, also will be used to bridge the $1.8 million gap in the city's Landscape and Lighting District created when voters rejected a proposed tax increase for park and open space maintenance. However, several council members warned that the city's financial picture isn't as rosy as the surplus appears. Experts have w

That was the title of this post you're about to see, which started life on the Adams Point Yahoo! Message Board. I'm just glad it wasn't a sharp ending! A good neighborhood at work today! This morning at 9:00AM I heard a woman shout out, "give me back my money"! When I looked outside I saw a woman running away. Turns out it was my neighbor chasing the suspect. She was robbed at knifepoint behind our building 286 Lenox I used the whistle ( but don't know if it helped or not) and called the police. It appears that several other neighbors called the police as well. The victim kept chasing the suspect and yelling give me back my money which worked to get many different people to come out and call the police.The police received several calls and they were able to catch the woman that robbed her within about 30 minutes I think. It appears that one person witnessed it all, another witnessed the suspect approaching before the actual robbery and others witnessed the c

In all my years in Oakland, I've never walked through the tunnel connecting Lake Merritt to the Oakland Convention Center -- never. I rode my bike through it once about 20 years ago, but that's it. Now, there are reports that a man was recently mugged while walking through it. My late advice is this: don't. You're better off crossing the street than going down there. It's a dangerous place and Oakland Parks and Rec has never done anything about it.

In all my years in Oakland, I've never walked through the tunnel connecting Lake Merritt to the Oakland Convention Center -- never. I rode my bike through it once about 20 years ago, but that's it. Now, there are reports that a man was recently mugged while walking through it. My late advice is this: don't. You're better off crossing the street than going down there. It's a dangerous place and Oakland Parks and Rec has never done anything about it.

Phil Tagami, California Commercial Investments partner and developer (or redeveloper) of The Rotunda, scored a victory with a 57.2 million deal to renovate the long dormant Fox Theater. When I served as Economic Advisor to Mayor Elihu Harris, Phil came to me with a plan to restore The Rotunda. After almost ten years of meetings, drawings, and calls not returned by the City's Economic Development Agency, Phil won a $32 million loan to develop The Rotunda. It was his first development project. But even then Phil had a dream and plan for the entire area boardered by Telegraph, San Pablo, and Grand Avenue that we started calling "Uptown" after that term was created by developer David Martin of The Martin Group in 1995. Phil's plan was on a much smaller scale that David's, where the latter wanted to make a large shopping complex, Phil wanted to recreate the Fox. We had that conversation in 1996. As is common with him, he kept his focus. He maintained it, even in