Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

A new tickets exchange just for Bay Area sports and events. Here's the current calendar below, but go to Bay Area Sports and Events for tickets and information. NFL 12/23 Kansas City Chiefs At Oakland Raiders Tickets 12/24 Arizona Cardinals At San Francisco 49ers NBA 12/12 Sacramento Kings At Golden State Warriors 12/14 Houston Rockets At Golden State Warriors 12/26 Philadelphia 76ers At Golden State Warriors 12/29 Boston Celtics At Golden State Warriors 01/06 Seattle Supersonics At Golden State Warriors NCAA Basketball 01/03 California At Stanford Basketball NHL 12/11 Phoenix Coyotes At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/14 Los Angeles Kings At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/16 Anaheim Ducks At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/21 Dallas Stars At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/23 Calgary Flames At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/26 Anahiem Ducks At San Jose Sharks Tickets 12/28 Phoenix Coyotes At San Jose Sharks Tickets 01/04 Detroit Red Wings At San Jose Sharks Tickets 01/06 Columbus Blue Jackets At San

Hey, even if I had $50K, I wouldn't spend it on a party for myself. The Dellums people are planning to spend that much money per donor, up to a half-million dollars. I think this is a terrible way to go. No party should be structured this way. What the Dellums people should do is turn to San Francisco Black and White Ball head Paula Goodrich for advice on what to do. Or just follow her model, which is to take a part of the city, rope it off, erect tents, book bands, get corporate sponsors, and charge a fee. Bingo. That's it. In other words make it an Oakland event for the many, not for the few. Wow. I'm a fan of the Mayor, but what they're doing is the wrong way to go.

by Hiroko Kurihara, Chair, RCPC Land Use Committee At press time, Albertsons was preparing to close their parking lot to the public because of Albertsons LLC and Terranomics’ difficulty in accessing the loading dock and showing the property to prospective tenants and developers. The RCPC Land Use Committee is working closely with Albertsons representatives and Councilmember Brunner’s office to help broker a solution that keeps the lot open and provides designated parking slots for Claremont Middle School teachers. Merchants are concerned about the closure and might be able to help monitor the lot. Regarding ROSS: Dress for Less Stores as a potential new tenant, the Land Use Committee has learned that the Rockridge site is most likely not among the 40 sites under consideration by the company. Nevertheless, we will be sending a letter to senior management at Cerberus Capital, to convey the concerns and preferences for the site expressed at the community meeting last July. We’ll keep you

Oakland's Law Corps wins 'profound honor' Organization has dealt with drug dealing cases, including crackdown on liquor stores OAKLAND TRIBUNE Article Last Updated:12/05/2006 02:51:44 AM PST OAKLAND — The National League of Cities on Monday named Oakland one of nine winners of its 2006 award for municipal excellence, honoring the work of the Neighborhood Law Corps. City Attorney John Russo, who founded the organization five years ago, said the city constantly seeks innovative, creative ways to address chronic urban problems. "It's a profound honor to be recognized for such a prestigious award," Russo said. Oakland was also named one of three Gold award winners. Law Corps attorneys, who are usually fresh out of law school, focus on quality-of-life issues and have tackled dozens of cases involving drug dealing and building-code vio-lations. The Law Corps has also led the city's crackdown on liquor stores that blight the community when they provide a haven fo

"San Francisco Red Sox Fan" points to the East Bay Express article on how the Oakland A"s execs managed to work a deal to -- perhaps -- move to Fremont. The article's just ok. Another typically long piece of work that in this case doesn't get to the heart of the matter of the problem of sports in Oakland. In fact, in this case, the authors seemed to write as if they were looking to talk to "names" rather than determine what really happened. But leave that one to another person. I'm diappointed in their work. It's a wimper, not a bang.

"Black Sheep Girl" complains of the terrible bus service and the "creepy dudes" that hang out at the "Oakland BART" station -- don't know which one, but could be 12th or 19th Street -- so she decides to walk home. All the better to see Lake Merritt. We used to have a shuttle that drove around Lake Merritt; we need it back. It was paid for by the Oakland Redevelopment Agency, when for one moment it really understood what city building was all about.

Wow. I happened to catch this bit of news over at the blog called BiggAndyy, which you can go to with a click on the title of this post. He reports that the awards for Oakland kids turning in their guns are tickets to -- LOL -- a Guns and Roses Concert! What genius came up with that? It's supposed to be some weird pun, get it? Turn in your guns for Guns? It's not something the folks in the neighborhoods would come up with. First, it's just not a good idea -- better to give money. Second, and I'm just gonna haul off and write this, the person who came up with the idea certainly wasn't Black or Latino, and yet the program, let's face it, is aimed at African American neighborhoods in Oakland! What's going on over at the City of Oakland? You gotta wonder. Makes you shake your head.

This is Oaklandish's bus, or what they call a "Mobile Operations Unit." But I've got to ask what do they really do in that monster thing? Here's their info... This classic '67 Clark Cortez camper van has been outifitted with A.V. equipment (projector, FM radio transmitter, P.A. system), a kegerator, the Folklandish library of books, videos, collectibles & memorabilia, as well as our line of 'local love' goods. So basically we're rigged and ready to turn it out on-location at the drop of a hat! This completes our long standing dream of being fully equipped to bring our message & media to events and parties all over the town. Look for it November 5th at Dia de los Muertos in the Fruitvale!

I found this link to an interesting group called Oakland Ecovillage and their calendar, which features Sunday walks around the Lake with a group of anti-war neighbors. I'm sure the group realizes that it needs to be more diverse than is shown in this photo, so I will not spend too much time on this except to say if you're a person of color check it out, and to the group's organizers, make a concerted effort to bring African Americans, Latinos, and others in. It's disheartening to see this kind of photo in a city that was once prized for its diversity. Not to mention eating just popcorn! How about potato salad? A potluck with baked chicken? Something!

Oakland Coliseum wins Raiders lawsuit By DAVID KRAVETS, AP Legal Affairs Writer Fri Nov 17, 8:18 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO - A state appeals court on Friday threw out a jury's $34.2 million award to the Oakland Raiders over accusations that managers of the Oakland Coliseum falsely promised a sold-out stadium to lure the team back to the Bay Area. The case dates to 1995, when Raiders owner Al Davis maneuvered to get his team out of Southern California after revenues waned, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum's foundation was shaken by an earthquake and a deal collapsed to build a new stadium and horse track. The Oakland deal, first inked in 1995 and renegotiated a year later, gave the Raiders a $53 million loan, $10 million for a training complex and $100 million to renovate the coliseum, which they share with baseball's Oakland Athletics. The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento said in a 2-1 ruling on Friday that because the Raiders agreed to the deal a second time, the team

OAKLAND A family dispute ends with 3 killed, 2 in custody Man dives from window to escape gunfire after holiday gathering turns violent Steve Rubenstein, SF Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, November 24, 2006 Three people were killed and another wounded when a North Oakland holiday get-together turned deadly Thursday afternoon. Two men were taken into custody in connection with the shooting. There were nine people, including a child, in the third-floor apartment at 5321 Telegraph Ave. when gunfire broke out shortly before 3 p.m. One man and two women were killed and another man wounded in the gunfire, while another man suffered a broken back when he leaped from a third-floor window to escape the bullets. Oakland police described the incident as a family dispute gone horribly wrong. "There was an ongoing disturbance within the group,'' which had started well before the bloody Thanksgiving shooting, said Officer Roland Holmgren, an Oakland police spokesman. He declined to elab

This is not the press conference, but a presentation on the new technology that would be in what Cicso -- the developers of the router for the Internet -- calls "The Stadium of the Future." These improvements will find their way into the planned new A's stadium to be located in Fremont, but they could be used anywhere in any stadium. The question is how much will this increase ticket prices at the new A's stadium? I'll be we're not going to see Dollar Wednesday's again after it's built -- if it is.

I found this post on the Yahoo Message Board for Adams Point. It's a long response to the proposal to ease conversions of apartments to condos. SAY NO TO OAKLAND'S URBAN REMOVAL PROGRAM--CONDO CONVERSIONS REVISITED! * 3 City Councilmembers led by Ignacio Dela Fuente have put a city-wide proposal to gut Oakland's existing condo conversion protections ON THE FAST TRACK with only 2 months of public hearings and no study on the impacts, including displacement of vulnerable tenants and exacerbating declining school enrollments. They want it passed before Mr. Dellums takes office. * IF YOU ARE A RENTER, increased condo conversion means that you may be evicted from your home and forced to find new housing in an even more difficult rental market. * There will be NO RENT CONTROL PROTECTIONS if the new condo units are re-rented. Over 25% of Oakland's current condos are already being rented out. * OVER 90% OF OAKLAND RENTERS won't be able to afford the new condos. Average c