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Another Mugging In Adams Point

I walked into a local restaurant off Piedmont Avenue and got both a great meal and a great conversation with two Oakland School teachers. Unfortunately, I learned that one of them was just mugged at gunpoint on Palm Avenue last week. That's the same street I live on. The pattern's becoming all too familar: white women being the target of someone Black or Latino in their teens or maybe 20 at best. I stopped writing for a while here because I was sick to my stomach of reporting crime. I still am.

East Bay For Obama - The Video

I've been heavily involved in supporting Senator Barack Obama's run for President of The United States. One of my most recent decisions was to join East Bay For Obama, a fun organization that has various fundraisers and gatherings around the objective of supporting and promoting the Senator and his candidacy. To gain a small taste of what an East Bay For Obama function is like, I made this video below. You can find out more about the group at the Barack Obama website at www.barackobama.com, just click on My Barack Obama and then "Groups." Here's the video:

Emeryville 3.0 Earthquake Happened Just 16 Minutes Ago

Here's the info on the Earthquake you may have felt in Oakland. It's from the US Government's site. Magnitude 3.0 - duration magnitude (Md) Time Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 12:20:19 PM (PDT) Wednesday, May 2, 2007 at 19:20:19 (UTC) Distance from Emeryville, CA - 2 km (1 miles) NNW (345 degrees) Berkeley, CA - 3 km (2 miles) SW (218 degrees) Albany, CA - 4 km (3 miles) S (177 degrees) Kensington, CA - 6 km (4 miles) SSW (192 degrees) Oakland, CA - 9 km (5 miles) NW (318 degrees) Coordinates 37 deg. 51.2 min. N (37.853N), 122 deg. 17.6 min. W (122.293W) Depth 8.5 km (5.3 miles) Location Quality Good Location Quality Parameters Nst=136, Nph=136, Dmin=4 km, Rmss=0.18 sec, Erho=0.1 km, Erzz=0.4 km, Gp=28.8 degrees Event ID# nc51181496

Bob Schock - Medical Malpractice Lawyer - Wins Daniels v. Townsend

Medical Malpractice is a large problem, and over 90 percent of doctors sued win their cases. But not in the case of Oakland Lawyer Robert G. Shock. Bob Schock represented the plaintiff, A'Daja Daniels -- a then-seven year old child (who's now 14 years old). He won a judgement of over $800,000, when he was expecting perhaps $300,000, but the jury was swayed by the severity of damage caused to her by doctor error and the impact it has on her ability to reach her economic potential, or to put it another way, to gain money from the best job for her. In this video, Bob talks about the case and his law practice. Bob's office is at 1970 Broadway in Oakland. His phone number is 839-7722 and website is Legalpros.org

Berkeley Can Use Race In School Admissions - Alameda County Judge Winifred Smith

If it's true that law follows society, then this is a sure sign of the end of the conservative era and the start of a period of fairness. BERKELEY Judge allows race as factor in enrollment Decision is first since Prop. 209 to let school district integrate Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, April 11, 2007 Berkeley's public schools, the first in the nation to desegregate voluntarily, can consider the racial composition of a student's neighborhood in an enrollment system designed to keep each campus racially diverse, an Alameda County judge has ruled. The decision by Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith could lead to the first California appellate ruling on a school district's ability to maintain a voluntary integration program under Proposition 209, the 1996 initiative that banned race and sex preferences in public education, employment and contracting. The case may also be affected by a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of school i

Lakeshore Business District Crimes A Matter Of Black Praying Non-Blacks

This came from the Yahoo! Message Board. It details crimes in the Lakeshore Business District. To be frank, there's a history of young Black men from outside the neighborhood praying on those who are White or non-Black and living in the neighborhood. Why this is, I do not know. I can say that in the 16 years I've lived in this area, and walked home at all hours of the night, I've never even come close to being the victim of a crime. But I've walked with friends who are White and in one case, it seemed like a young brother on a bike basically aimed right at my friend -- until I intervened. Pretty weird. But I have a friend who's White and Blond and walked home at midnight from her job; nothing ever happened to her. She says it's for two reasons: 1) she's not scared, and 2) she keeps her head up. Here's the information from the group... To be more specific about patterns of robberies in the Grand Lake area, it seems that the Lakeshore Avenue Business

Record Missing From Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown's Adminstration - Former Aide Gil Duran Erased Negative Information On Jerry

Well, this should prove just how much Jerry and Gil Duran had to hide (its not the first time they've been accused of a cover-up) -- and how damaging his term was to Oakland. It should be against the law for anyone to do this, but hey, Jerry's AG now, he's really protected. And what about all the talk of wanting "open meetings"? Right! Who voted him in to that office? Mayoral files for Jerry Brown are missing By Thomas Peele and Heather MacDonald MEDIANEWS STAFF - CCTIMES Some public records of new state Attorney General Jerry Brown's eight years as Oakland mayor are missing and others were apparently improperly destroyed, raising questions about whether the state's top law-enforcement official has violated California's public records law. Two former Brown aides said they removed records from the office late last year. One of them, Gil Duran, said he consulted Michelle Abney, the public records coordinator in the city attorney's office, befor

Peralta Elementary School Target Of Possible Arson

To say this is terrible is an understatement. Oakland school sustains damage in possible arson Firefighters get the blaze under control in about 45 minutes By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 03/28/2007 08:24:45 AM PDT OAKLAND — A possible arson fire tore through the once-serene courtyard of Peralta Elementary School late Monday night, damaging parts of the office, library and adjacent classrooms and possibly canceling school for the rest of the week. No one was injured in the 11:45 p.m. blaze, which Capt. Melinda Drayton of the Oakland Fire Department described as "a suspicious fire, possibly arson." But the destruction to the beloved school between Alcatraz Avenue and 63rd Street felt deeply personal to the close-knit group of teachers and parents who gathered outside the building Tuesday to survey the damage. "Who would want to hurt this school?" asked Kathy Rieves, a co-chair of the school's parent-teacher group. Firefighters had the blaze un

A.W. Woodall On The Many Oaklands And A Fruitvale Killing

I just spotted this blog post by A.W. Woodall , which must be read. The many Oaklands Fruitvale district: by day a sunny, colorful neighborhood where you are more likely to hear Spanish spoken than English. But at night the beasts come out. Friday afternoon my older daughter and I were hanging out in Fruitvale, devouring tamales and empenadas at World Cup Tamale near the BART station. Friday night a 19-year-old man was shot dead while walking with friends to a party. Even if the murder was more

Oakland Budget: From $16 Million Up To $13 Million Down In One Year

The main question is why can't Oakland streamline its spending to smooth these wild swings in surplus and deficit? Are they conducting decent forecasts? I guess not. Oakland looking at budget shortfall City projected to be $13.5 million in the red for next fiscal year By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 03/23/2007 02:53:16 AM PDT OAKLAND — Less than a year after reveling in a $16 million surplus, the City Council must grapple with a projected budget deficit of nearly $13.5million. At a daylong retreat Monday at the Joaquin Miller Community Center, the council began working in earnest to craft a spending plan for the next two years. In addition to the deficit projected for 2007-08, the shortfall for 2008-09 is estimated to be $8.8 million. The council spent the surplus on a host of programs, including tree-trimming and roof repairs. In addition, each council member got $250,000 to spend as they wished on projects and programs in their districts. That windfal

Retaining The Oakland A’s Takes Action and Aggression

It doesn’t matter if it’s a retail business or the Oakland A’s, all good economic development efforts start with one thing: action. Well, two things – action and aggression. Over the past six years, the City of Oakland – and I mean everyone, not just the government, has shown little of either. By contrast, Fremont, led by Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, and Fremont’s Mayor Bob Wasserman have been both active and aggressive in attempting to yank the A’s from Oakland. What can Oakland do? Simple. Fight. Take action and aggressively work to retain the A’s. Oakland should use Jacksonville, Florida as an example. Jacksonville had no business thinking it could host a Super Bowl game, but their shortcomings didn’t stop them from trying. They were rejected by the NFL, but kept coming back until finally in 2000, they landed the right to host the 2005 Super Bowl – the one the Oakland-Alameda County Sports Commission and I worked to bring to Oakland. We had a better plan, and

Senator Barack Obama In Oakland, Part One

Senator Barack Obama came to Oakland on St. Patrick's Day and was greeted by an audience estimated to be as large as 15,000 to 20,000 people - the largest gathering of its kind in Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza. This video contains his introduction by Army Sgt. Georgatos and the first five to seven minutes of his rousing 22-minute speech which included a focus on his plan for Iraq. The video is also a glimpse of the sheer size and excitement of the Oakland crowd. Take a good look at the audience, and you will see that the San Francisco Chronicle was wrong in claiming that it was "mostly African American" as a way of saying that Whites, Asians, and Hispanics didn't come in large numbers. I sometimes think the Chronicle is deliberately trying to marginalize Senator Obama's candidacy, but it can't.

Ron Nails Too Much Wanted To Work For Mayor Dellums

Man arrested in threats to City Hall employee Suspect had gone to Mayor Dellums' office looking for a job By Heather MacDonald , STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE Article Last Updated: 03/17/2007 02:47:15 AM PDT OAKLAND — A 26-year-old man was arrested Friday morning on suspicion of making criminal threats against a member of Mayor Ron Dellums' staff after he created a disturbance outside the mayor's City Hall office, police said. Ronald Nalls, who has lived in Dublin and Oakland, went to the mayor's office seeking a job with the city after volunteering in Dellums' transition office, said Karen Stevenson, a spokeswoman for the mayor. Nalls is on probation for disturbing the peace and making criminal threats, officials said. He ran errands and stuffed envelopes for the mayor's transition team, said Stevenson, who added that he had been pleasant and had caused no problems. While Nalls was waiting to see a member of the staff in the office's small reception area a

500 At Barack Obama Rally Planning Meeting In Oakland

I just read Frank Russo's account of the Sunday planning meeting for Saturday's rally for Senator Barack Obama. The Sunday meeting alone drew 500 people. Think about that. It's about half of the number that came to see John Edwards in Berkeley, and he was there. This is a planning meeting! I'm sorry I missed it, but I'm involved in planning the Saturday fund-raiser. Too much on my plate, too!

Cybelle's Hostage Story Did Come To A Good End...

Ok, I found the rest of the info on the hostage story. ....It's in the Chron, so I guess I missed this... (03-10) 16:36 PST -- Oakland police hostage negotiators peacefully talked an armed customer out of Cybelle's Pizza at the corner of Piedmont Avenue and West Macarthur Boulevard after a one-hour standoff Saturday afternoon. Employees called police after 2 p.m., when the man approached the counter with a handgun sticking out of the waistband of his pants, said Capt. Frank Lowe. The customer didn't threaten anyone, but refused to leave the restaurant when patrol officers arrived and evacuated the employees and eight customers out the back door. The SWAT team was called and police blocked off streets. Neighboring businesses were ordered to shut their doors and keep workers and shoppers inside. A man who was with the armed suspect told police the two men had been up all night taking methamphetamine. After an hour, the pizza customer came out and kneeled on the sidewalk wi

Senator Barack Obama In Oakland and SF March 17th

Senator Obama is coming back to the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bay Area Democrats are one of the hosts of a fund-raiser at The Mark Hopkins Hotel in San Francisco, on Saturday, March 17th at 5 PM. The contribution levels are $1,000 (for the 6:30 reception), $2,300 (for the 8 PM dinner), and one TBD but lower level for a grassroots event in Oakland at 3PM on the same day. To sign up for both or either event, click here: http://www.obamainsf.com I'm a co-chair for the evening event, so don't hesitate to ask any questions. You may also call at 510-387-9809.

4.2 Earthquake Shakes East Bay March 1st - May Be Sign Of Bigger Quake

I felt this one and told someone it was a 4.3; I was close. This earthquake hit in Lafayette, CA as its center. While in the report below, the research claims there's no cause for alarm, I disagree. These things are coming more frequently, and its a matter of time before we get a good sized one and its not far off. LAFAYETTE 4.2 quake jolts Bay Area -- no link to last week's temblor Keay Davidson and Wyatt Buchanan - SFGate.com Thursday, March 1, 2007 (03-01) 22:02 PST -- A 4.2 magnitude earthquake near Lafayette shook the Bay Area, just one week after a smaller quake in the same region. There's no cause for alarm, however, and judging by preliminary evidence, the Thursday evening quake is just another reminder of continual slippage on Bay Area faults, a leading U.S. Geological Survey expert said. "This is just a reminder that we all should ask ourselves, 'Do we have an earthquake kit in the car?' " USGS geophysicist Ross Stein told The Chronicle lat

Kenneth Eng Fired By AsianWeek After Public Pressure - Editors Should Go Next

Kenneth Eng took the fall for this, but AsianWeek's editors are the ones to blame. They too should be fired. "I don't hate asians, but after this doofus, I know there is at least ONE asian I dislike intensely. Posted by: Brian Schlosser | Feb 26, 2007 2:58:04 PM - WIRED Message Board" SAN FRANCISCO 'Hate Blacks' writer dismissed by AsianWeek Leslie Fulbright, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, March 1, 2007 The 22-year-old author of a column titled "Why I Hate Blacks" in the regional newspaper AsianWeek has been dismissed, and the paper's editors said Wednesday that they suffered "a serious lapse in editorial judgment" when they published his column. Editor at large Ted Fang said Wednesday at a news conference organized by the San Francisco branch of the NAACP that Kenneth Eng, who lives in New York, will not write again for the free weekly. "The failing of our editorial process in allowing this piece to go forward w