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According to the Newsletter of Ron Dellums, Lenore Anderson's the Mayor's newest public safety diretor. This is what the Mayor's Office reported on November 16th 2007: Per the recommendations of the Public Safety Task Force, Mayor Dellums appointed Lenore Anderson as public safety director. Lenore job will be to implement the mayor's public safety vision - a vision that incorporates Prevention, Intervention, Enforcement and Sustainability strategies to bring peace to Oakland communities. Since joining the mayor's office, she has been working to expand the number of officers on the street to the current city-mandated ceiling, while partnering with community organizations to provide intensive intervention and prevention options for Oakland. "Public safety is my Administration's top priority," said Mayor Dellums. "Lenore Anderson is an Oakland resident who understands what our city is facing and knows how to get things done." Anderson lives

This news comes from the same Newsletter by Mayor Ron Dellums as the other post below. I don't know anything of value about either appointee. Margaret Gordon' a long time player in West Oakland, so I guess that's some information of value, eh? Mayor Dellums' two Port Commission appointments were overwhelmingly approved by the Oakland City Council this month. "Both Margaret Gordon and Victor Uno embody my sincere interest in addressing the critical and wide-ranging issues facing our City's port," said Mayor Dellums. Over the last decade, Gordon, a West Oakland resident, has become a strong public health and environmental advocate for her community, meanwhile gaining regional and statewide respect for her knowledge of the issues. Victor Uno, brings to the Port Commission an extensive labor background, as he is currently a National Board Member for the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, and the Business Manager for the International Brothe

I got this note from the Newsletter of Ron Dellums via email. This is part of the Mayor's Office' push to get it's message and work properly communicated to Oaklanders. OAKLAND - Mayor Dellums joined city leadership, community groups, and tenant families to announce a major victory when a settlement was reached to preserve 50 affordable housing units at the Pacific Renaissance development in Chinatown, as well as facilitating the development of at least 50 new low-income housing units in the same community. "The affordable housing need of the Chinatown community greatly outstrips the current housing stock. With the growing numbers of families and seniors overburdened by rent, it was imperative for me to resolve the Pacific Renaissance litigation in a way that would optimize the number of new affordable housing units in Chinatown to provide stable, quality, and affordable housing," he stated.

Well, this was one Cal - USC game I expected us, Cal, to win. We came up on the back-end of a 24-17 score to a team we should have beat. But as much as people will talk about the game, they'll talk about the rain more. That was perhaps a one-in-a-lifetime experience to be at a Cal-USC game where the rain not only played a role on the field, but off. It was everywhere. Fortunately, I had my umbrella and stood and walked the entire time. That's more than I could say for a lot of people, who undoubtedly have colds by now. Watch "the rain come down."

I got into a conversation with this person (who didn't want to be named) on Oakland and politics, when she started talking about why she supports Senator Mike Gravel for President. This was so frankly unusual -- because so many people mention Obama or Clinton or Giuliani or Ron Paul -- that I asked her if I could get her to talk on camera. She agreed and this was the result.

Governor declares state of emergency Coast Guard scrutinized for response time, investigation continues By Kristin Bender and William Brand STAFF WRITERS - Oakland Tribune Article Last Updated: 11/10/2007 02:37:05 AM PST IMPACT TO BE FELT FOR YEARS Oil spoils plans for weekend As the governor declared a state of emergency Friday that will bring state money to oil spill cleanup efforts, hundreds of crews and a hefty amount of oil-skimming equipment had soaked up about 30 percent of the oil that gushed into the San Francisco Bay on Wednesday. As cleanup of the 58,000-gallon oil spill in the Bay continued full-bore, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came to Fort Mason and signeda proclamation of a state of emergency. This allows the state to deploy emergency personnel and equipment and gives officials the right to tap into a state trust fund to ensure that resources are being used to expedite the cleanup, Schwarzenegger said. Officials estimated that roughly 17,500 gallons of bunker fuel oil had

As I was leaving a visit to the then-new Oakland headquarters of Obama for America, I literally ran into Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson. He was kind enough to stop and talk with me on camera about the presidential campaign, Barack Obama and the youth vote, and his issues of concern.

Since the new Whole Foods opened on 27th and Harrison, it seemed to me that there were fewer people at the Lake Merritt Farmers Market. On Saturday, I decided to take camera in hand and ask the vendors for their views. What I learned is that overall vendors feel it's too early to tell, but off camera two people said "Yes." But two others, also off camera, said it may be a seasonal development. One other person said that the Whole Foods was too far away to have an impact on the Farmers Market.

Oakland- Bay Area Women In Black v. SF Voice For Israel - Grand Avenue War Part One Part Two Each Saturday morning on the corner of Grand Avenue and Lake Park, and in front of the historic Grand Lake Theater, two groups stage a protest against U.S policies in Iraq and The Mid East, and against each other. I titled this "Oakland Culture War" because that's really what it is. Two groups of people who -- even though some may not live in Oakland -- picked this corner in Oakland to protest, and who have such differing views on The Mid East, they have agreed to stand away from each other, on opposite sides of the street to avoid arguing. After walking by these groups and saying nothing -- like everyone else -- I decided to take camcorder in hand and get information. The video contains some very interesting information, particularly by SF Voice for Israel. What was also of note, and comes out in the video, is how the Bay Area Women Against War seem afraid to talk to

Phil Tagami Hosts Bill Clinton According to the Oakland Tribune, Bill Clinton is the featured guest of a cocktail reception thrown by Phil Tagami , Managing Partner of California Commercial Group, and to be held at The Rounda this evening. The details from the Trib are below... Former President Bill Clinton will headline a cocktail reception tomorrow night at the Rotunda Building in downtown Oakland’s Frank Ogawa Plaza to raise funds for the presidential campaign of his wife, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton , D-NY. It’s $500 a head, or $2,300 to get into the VIP reception starting half an hour before the 7 p.m. main event. The event’s co-chairs include Clear Channel Outdoor executive and noted Democratic politico Michael Colbruno ; Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums ; attorney Kenneth Katzoff ; state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata , D-Oakland; Assemblyman Sandre Swanson , D-Oakland; and developer Phil Tagami . And among the hosts for the evening are Oakland City Council President Ignacio

Novometro.com | Novometro On Uptown Night Club Reopening Novometro's VSmoothe -- whatever the hell that means -- is back with a review of the reopened Uptown Night Club near the corner of Telegraph and Thomas Berkeley. It's good to see the establishment alive again. Perhaps the new management will focus on concerts and live performers.

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.