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This is the executive summary of the economic report published by the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. A copy of the entire study can be seen with a click > here. The text that follows is directly from the summary. I disagree with the overall recommendations, but welcome feedback from others to start a debate. I feel that the recommendations are too weighted toward the development of large industries, ignores the impact of the sports indusry in Oakland, and has no mention of the need to develop small businesses. It's also too focused on biotech, and that's been talked about for 20 years, and we've still got nothing to show for it. I think we should make our strengths stronger, and that's small business, restaurants, shops, and information, and sports. Here's the study.... ONE: OAKLAND’S ECONOMY TODAY Historically, Oakland’s economic foundation rested on strong manufacturing, transportation, and healthcare industries. Today, these continue to be important pi

Well, first, I'm happy Skyline High, where I went, is not on this list. Second, my question -- not answered here -- is "why do these schools have that problem?" Oakland, Emeryville schools make dropout list Fewer than 60 percent of freshmen make it to senior year By Katy Murphy, STAFF WRITER - OAKLAND TRIBUNE Article Last Updated: 10/31/2007 02:47:25 AM PDT OAKLAND — Oakland High School and Oakland Technical High School made the Associated Press's recent "dropout factory" list, as did Emery Secondary School in Emeryville. According to a data analysis conducted by Johns Hopkins University researchers for the Associated Press, only about 44 percent of ninth-graders from Oakland Tech, 52 percent from Oakland High and 55 percent from Emery Secondary made it to their senior year. The high schools were among 1,700 nationwide in which no more than 60 percent of ninth-graders enrolled as seniors three years later. By looking at the size of a particular grade l

I thought I felt something but wasn't sure as I was walking in San Francisco. But this news confirms that it wasn't Godzilla. It was an Earthquake and centered in San Jose.

Wow. I've never personally been to Pastino's Pasta & Pizza, but I ran accross a blog where the writer said the restaurant on 4207 Park Blvd in Oakland, had "the worst pasta I've had in my entire life" in his words. He goes on... Bad pasta The pasta that I had tonight at Pastino's in Oakland was the worst pasta I've had in my entire life. I am an old man. I have lived 300 years. In all my 300 years, I've never even heard of pasta this bad. And make no mistake -- I've heard of pasta that was bad. For about 60 of those years I lived in Bangladesh where I was a reporter at a local paper and -- I kid you not -- my "beat" was bad pasta places and the pasta they made. Most of which wasn't very good. That was a difficult period in my life. So here I am, all these years later thinking, "I'm a guy who's eaten a lot of bad pasta." But as it turns out, those thin, flappy, granular strands of my discontent were just appe

Of all the current Oakland Councilmembers, Henry Chang stands out not just as an elder statesman, but as an honest, principled elected official who I've long admired, regardless of his position. Here's more about him. Henry was born in 1934, the second child of Frances and Henry Sr. He was separated from his parents two years later, when the Japanese attacked his hometown, Shantou. Henry fled to Hong Kong with his Aunt Barbara while his parents escaped to Northern China. Three years later, when the Japanese attacked Hong Kong, Henry returned by freighter back to Japanese-occupied Shantou and was later reunited with his mother and father. Henry's most vivid childhood memories are of the concentration camp his family called home during the occupation of China. There, they witnessed unspeakable torture and brutality. He escaped in 1941 with his brother Thomas by crawling over a wall at night and hiding in a farmhouse. Henry reconnected with his family a year later, whe

What's neat about the way Oakland's growing is the reduced institutional investor racism that's plagued Oakland in the past. Oakland's chronic underdevelopment is a child of this problem. Development leapfrogged Oakland and went to Walnut Creek or Alameda, both mostly-white enclaves. I'm not sure if some of this is due to the "balancing" of Oakand's population, where we're reaching a near racial balance that I predicted would occur in 1995, when I wrote for The Montclarion, but I'd prefer to think it's more in line with more sane attitudes toward skin color. Yes. People can be that stupid. At any rate, it's with great pride that I present Novometro's article on new eateries along AutoRow.

From the North Gate News This actually matches a Tagami Vision episode on the matter. Forum Focuses on Domestic Violence, Sexual Exploitation By Kerry Seed , October 29, 2007 at 11:49 pm OAKLAND – Police are getting more cases of domestic violence and sexual exploitation in recent years, and the victims are younger, according to a city coalition that gathered Monday to report on what is being done about the problem. More domestic violence incidents are reported in Oakland than in any other city in the nine-county Bay Area, said Jean Quan, City Council president pro tempore. And prosecutors say Internet prostitution has caused sexual exploitation cases to skyrocket. “The Internet has increased the number of cases beyond what we can handle,” said Sharmin Eshraghi, an Alameda County assistant district attorney who focuses on human exploitation and trafficking. “We have an epidemic. There’s more than we can actually prosecute.” With Domestic Violence Awareness month drawing to a close,

You may have heard of Rachel Howard as she's the dance critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. But Rachel's also an accomplished book author. Her work " The Lost Night : A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder" is about the murder of her father Stan Howard and how she's coped with not just the loss of her father, but the fact that the killer was never found. On November 2nd, Rachel shares her story with Ira Glass on his show, "This American Life." Please tune in. The stations that have the show are listed here: San Francisco, CA KQED-FM 88.5 Sa 12:00 PM 12:59 PM 1/1/1998 Sacramento, CA KQEI-FM 89.3 Sa 12:00 PM 12:59 PM 1/1/1998 San Francisco, CA KALW-FM 91.7 Su 1:00 PM 1:59 PM 7/7/1996 San Francisco, CA KQED-FM 88.5 Sa 10:00 PM 10:59 PM 8/4/1996 Sacramento, CA KQEI-FM 89.3 Sa 10:00 PM 10:59 PM 8/4/1996 San Francisco, CA KALW-FM 91.7 F 1:00 PM 1:59 PM 7/11/1997

Oakland's Grand Avenue Business Association (GABA) held the 2nd annual Proud Parents Stroll along Grand Avenue. I guess you can call it a shop-hop.

The start of this video's a tad disturbing as the lady who's protesting is so far away from Senator Clinton, it wasn't worth the effort of this Hillary volunteer in the video. The Clinton camp at work, controlling the crowd. The Obama Rally didn't have such problem volunteers. I mean this is an elderly woman!

From what I was told, it was a kick-ass concert. Here's a sample.

I'll get back to politics, but here's some fun. My good friend Beth Schnitzer invited me to Pier 39s Fleet Week Party held October 5th 2007 on the roof of the parking lot at Pier 39 in San Francisco. It's a killer event that drew over 600 people and provided a great backdrop for products and events from various sponsors from Bauer's Limousines -- http://www.bauerslimousines.com -- to Sheri's Berries. There's great food and music and people, like Movie Critic Jan Wahl. This is the first movie in a series.

From SFGate.com today (10-24) 08:50 PDT OAKLAND -- Law enforcement officials raided numerous locations in Oakland today as part of a multi-agency investigation into heroin trafficking, authorities said. The citywide busts occurred at 6 a.m. and involved Oakland police officers, Alameda County sheriff's deputies and agents with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI. San Francisco police and Internal Revenue Service agents also were involved, said Officer Roland Holmgren, an Oakland police spokesman. The raids focused on a tar heroin trafficking organization based in the Central Valley with distribution cells in Oakland and elsewhere in the Bay Area, Holmgren said. The group had the capacity to distribute between to 50 and 100 pounds of tar heroin a month, police said. Officials plan to release more details at a news conference this afternoon. That's all the information provided.

From Rockridge News, which really needs to be in blog form. An interview with City Councilwoman Jane Brunner by Stuart Flashman, RCPC boardmember, and member, RCPC Planning and Project Review Committee In 1998, the city of Oakland updated itsGeneral Plan, the fundamental document defining the city’s land use patterns. Almost 10 years later, the city has not yet revised all of its zoning ordinance to fit with what the General Plan says. The Rockridge News talked to Jane Brunner, city councilwoman for North Oakland, about this zoning upd a t e process and what it might mean for Rockridge. Councilwoman Brunner will be an invited speaker at the RCPC’s October 18 General Meeting on the topic of the Rockridge/ Temescal Zoning Update and the future of Rockridge. Rockridge News: Thanks for taking the time to speak with me about zoning in Rockridge and Temescal. Let’s start with a simple question – what is zoning about? Jane Brunner: Zoning really is taking a look at how many housing units,

From Oaklandnet.com About Ron Dellums Contact the Office of the Mayor Ron Dellums 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza 3rd Floor Oakland, CA 94612 officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com T: (510) 238-3141 F: (510) 238-4731 An Oakland native, Ron Dellums grew up on Wood St in West Oakland, attended Oakland schools and graduated from Oakland Tech, Merritt College (AA), SF State (BA), and UC Berkeley (MSW). Ron served two years active duty in the United States Marine Corps, Following graduate school, Ron worked as a psychiatric social worker for the California Department of Mental Hygiene. He then directed various programs in Bayview/Hunters Point before becoming Director of the Hunters Point Youth Opportunity Center. Subsequently, he was Director of employment programs for the SF Poverty program and then Senior Consultant on manpower programs for Social Dynamics Inc, a leading Bay Area consulting firm. In 1967, he was elected to the Berkeley City Council and in 1970 to the US House of Representatives. He repr

This is the forth day of the raging series of fires that have destroyed or damaged 1,750 homes, closed 100 businesses, and scorched 263,000 acres of land. All of this has resulted in over 500,000 people being displaced from their homes over this time. I've heard reports of people coming down just to volunteer to help. If you're anywhere but there, it's hard to understand exactly what's going on or the enormity of it, untill you see something like this Google Map here. The map shows that it's not one fire but many fires spread around a vast area. I count 20 in all, and raging in size from the 200,000 acre Witch Fire to the 160 acres Walker Fire. Whatever the case, the fires -- even the small ones -- are very large in size. So large, they dwarf the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire. That disaster covered 1,520 acres; this one consists of several blazes, all save for three between 10 and 100 times larger than the Oakland Hills Fire. It's a series of fires too la

East Bay Blog reports... Over 100 gathered in front of Oakland City Hall for a demonstration and march in Oakland on October 22, joining with people in cities across the country on the “National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation." The largest group of participants were the families and friends of those who had been murdered by the police, who marched behind a banner which read “Stolen Lives: Killed by Law Enforcement." There were many family and friends of of Gary King, Jr., a 20-year-old youth who was murdered by police on September 20. Gary King was grabbed by the dreadlocks, brutalized, tasered and shot in the back by officer Patrick Gonzales, who had mistaken King for someone else. Gonzeles, who has been responsible for shooting several other young Black men in the last few years, stood with his foot in Gary’s back as he lay dying on the ground.

Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff continues to chase a pipe-dream of a project to build a ball park in Fremont using a financing plan that I've told Don Fisher of the Gap is not workable. It's funny what ego can do, but even a large ego can go only so far. It's a waste of time what the A's are doing. What's even sillier is saying they're not going to stay in Oakland. Where the hell are they going, and with who's money? Baseball, both in TV ratings and franchise value, isn't the investment it used to be for an organization in a market this size. There's an answer, but I'm not going to give all of....Well, ok. Part of the answer is that Lew needs to learn local politics. Right now, he's really screwing up. He would get a losing score playing my Oakland Baseball Simworld. A's owner says there's no chance team will stay in Oakland Carolyn Jones, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, October 22, 2007 (10-22) 22:13 PDT Sa

EBMUD and UC Berkeley's present: A Clean Sweep - Help Protect the Bay! WHEN: Friday, October 26, 2007 7am-3pm WHERE: 1000 Folger Ave. at San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, CA 94720 (near Ashby) * FREE COMPUTER RECYCLING Accepting personal TVs, monitors, portable DVD players, CPUs, laptops, power cords, circuit boards, keyboards, and mice. More info at 510-642-1186 or http://overstock.berkeley.edu * SAFE MEDICINE DISPOSAL Bring unwanted medicine in original containers with your name marked out. More info at 510-287-1651 or www.ebmud.com/cleanbay * THERMOMETER EXCHANGE & MERCURY DEVICE DISPOSAL Exchange mercury thermometers for a free digital thermometer. Also accepting other mercury devices. Bring in two plastic zipper bags to prevent spills. More info at 510-287-1651 or www.ebmud.com/cleanbay

I read the latest news on the Oakland Army Base with more than the usual passing interest. I absorbed it and chuckled. I could not help it. Why? Because the Oakland Army Base land has sat largely unused for years -- since 1999 -- while the Oakland City Council and whomever happened to be Mayor jockied with the Port of Oakland for control of its development. That struggle is also itself countered by competing ideas of what Oakland Councilmembers want to do with the land. It's these political tug of wars that have delayed development of what is still the Bay Area's best infill development opportunity. I can go over scores of examples of land uses that have been proposed for that area, from a ballpark for the Oakland A's to a farmers market, which was the proposal of long-time Oakland development activist Steve Low, my friend and for some time the with the West Oakland Commerce Association (WOCA). But as much as I like Steve, even he's been part of the enormous num