Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

On CNN there are extensive reports of a 5.8 Richter Scale Earthquake, centered in Chino Hills, about 29 miles south of LA. The quake wasn't large enough, fortunately, to cause major damage at least as reported thus far. A water main broke, but traffic's still moving through LA. And now the earthquake was reduced to a 5.4 Richter Scale quake in size by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Maria Ayerdi Will Cause Development Dollars To Flow From Oakland When the currently proposed new Transbay Terminal comes to reality, you can thank the direction of one person for its completion and subsequent drawing or more development dollars away from Oakland: Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan. Who? Kaplan is the Executive Director of The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) , the organization responsible for the development and financing of this massive project, which was featured in this video I created last year: The authority's work will result in the tallest building ever constructed in San Francisco, over 1,000 feet tall and a retail and mixed use complex of over 2 million square feet of space. Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan's resume is perfect for the role. She was Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan is the Executive Director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) and a former TJPA Board Member. A member of the State Bar of California, Kaplan has served as the Mayor of San Francisco’s ..

I present my long form video documentary of the TechCrunch | August Capital Party held Friday, July 25th 2008 at August Capital and hosed by TechCrunch Co-Founder / Editor Michael Arrington. First, let me thank Michael for the opportunity to do this at his event, as well as the time he gave me. Second, let me thank all of you who gave me your time at the party, which was the vast majority of you. I set out to form a pattern of opinions on what the Democratic Party and Senator Obama should address on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. I also tried to give a view of what people were working on in the tech / web community. There's a lot here. But I also tried to make something fun to watch, with a beginning, a middle, and an end. The video is 41 minutes long and some of the highlights: TechCrunch's Michael Arrington explaining that he hope Barack Obama sicks to his concern for "net neutrality" as well as his hope that issues regarding H1 Visas, the FC

Senator John McCain has a big-ticket fundraiser of 100,000 per person and held at the Fairmount Hotel to add to the public money he's already using to run for President. I figured an anti-war protest must have been planned and I was right: there's one according to KTYU.com: SAN FRANCISCO -- Grassroots campaigners are planning to protest the continuation of the Iraq war Monday outside a fundraising event at a San Francisco hotel for Republican presidential nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain. Members of No Soldier Left Behind will rally outside the campaign fundraiser and collect petition signatures calling for a responsible end to the war, according to Peace Action West, an organization that fosters civic activism. Protestors will hold signs advocating the end of the war and well being of Iraqis and Americans in the region. "Sen. McCain is here raising money in support of an Iraq policy that will be a continuation of the president's fail strategy," Peace Action West

I saw this news at SFGate.com : (07-28) 06:26 PDT OAKLAND -- Oakland police today are investigating two restaurant robberies that occurred within minutes of each other on Sunday night. The first robbery happened at about 9:35 p.m. at the Bay Fung Tong Seafood Tea House at 1916 Franklin St. in downtown Oakland. Three armed men robbed people of their cash or wallets and took money from the business, police said. No one was injured in the takeover robbery. At about 9:42 p.m., a man robbed the Grégoire takeout restaurant at 4001 Piedmont Ave. One person was hurt during that robbery but did not need medical treatment, police said. No arrests have been made in the robberies, and it was not immediately known whether the two cases were related. I think the main issue is stopping crime before it starts. Both of these incidents happened around the close of business. Why no cameras in either place? What about other deterent devices? Or is this a time to encourage gun ownership?

I saw this article in today's Trib about "Kelly Hill" and their Chauncey Bailey Reunion. "Kelly Hill" is an area that is not known to many Oaklanders, including me. It's a neighborhood in Hayward where Bailey grew up. Bailey lived there as a teen and all the way through Hayward High School. You can read more, here .

Zenophon Abraham Jr. The Partying Playboy According To TangoDiva Wow. Ok, according to TangoDiva I'm now a "Partying Playboy" but I'm not sure if I'm right up there with Hugh Hefner or not! Here's what TangoDiva wrote (oh. Ok. I answered the questions and they put them out there!): The Man Issue 08: Zenophon Abraham By Tango Diva Name: Zenophon Abraham Hometown: San Francisco, California Occupation: CEO of Sports Business Stimulations 1. Where do you like to flirt? Pretty much anywhere. Bar, rapid transit, football stadium, dark part of a dive place. 2. Where's your favorite table for two? - I like the 21 Club in New York, The Alley in Oakland, and The Balboa Cafe in San Francisco -- three different places but all have history and two are darkly romantic (the Balboa's too well-lit). 3. Where should we stay when we visit (besides your place)? Hmm. I like the Claremont Resort in the Oakland Hills. Great views, pool, tennis, and food, too! 4. What qu

CNN's Black in America is a welcome addition to TV, but it has a major problem to me in that it does not represent middle class African Americans. Much of the telecast shows Blacks who are downtrodden, or have had something "done" to them by the "system." It's a one-sided view of Blacks that does not help in really understanding African Americans. Not every aspect of Black culture or the life of those of us who are is negative, and I feel that the general life of middle class Blacks was ignored. (Post also at Zennie's Zeitgeist)

An estimated 2,000 people marched at the Port of Oakland on July 22nd in a call for the Port to force independent truckers to be hired by the trucking companies, thus causing them to provide benefits. Although the protest was also to call for clean air, it's not clear to me what the protesters want the Port to do in that area.

Oakland police make major marijuana growing bust - Tribune By Harry Harris and William Brand, Staff Writers Article Launched: 07/24/2008 09:14:20 AM PDT OAKLAND _ Police broke up one of the largest marijuana growing operations they've seen in recent years, raiding three homes Wednesday night and seizing more than $225,000 cash, arresting four people and confiscating $60,000 worth of marijuana. It was a bust that extended to Mendocino County where some of the marijuana was grown. Police said the suspected ringleader, Theodore Christos, 29. grew marijuana on property he owns in Mendocino County and at a house in the Oakland hills where 151 young plants were seized at a house Christos owns in the 500 block of Crestmont Drive. Oakland Police Sgt. Oritz said all the marijuana transactions were made at a house in the 1000 block of 56th Street in North Oakland. Christos kept records of his sales at his home in the 3500 block of Harrison St.

Well, the war for the right to alter Cal's Memorial Grove continues; score this battle in the war as a win for U.C. Berkeley . Alameda County Judge Barbara Miller granted Cal the right to replace the trees on Tuesday, but also gave their opponents one week to file an appeal. This has been a long, hard, emotional battle between Cal and The Tree Sitters, who still remain in the trees. I captured part of that battle in a three-part video series . For their part, the Oak Grove Tree Sitters plan a march to Berkeley City Hall Thursday. Here's the schedule from their website (with spelling corrections) : Oak Grove Supporters Plan March to City Hall Thursday July 24th On Thursday the Berkeley City Council will presumably make it’s final decision on pursuing an appeal in the UC stadium case. Supporters plan a rally in front of the City Counsel. The plans include: 3:33 pm Meet at Oak grove 4:00 pm March from grove to Council 4:44 pm Rally in front of Counsel Building 5:00 pm

Oakland fans of Senator John Edwards will not like the news they're about to get. For the full story, go over to Zennie's Zeitgeist with a click here .

I can only hope Kids First passes in November because the City's budget problems are so potentially bad that this "zero-sum" choice was presented: pay for more youth programs, and cut jobs, or don't and wait to see if the Kids First Initiative passes in November, and save City jobs. Here's the Trib story, in part.. OAKLAND — The City Council rejected the idea of a compromise ballot measure Tuesday that would have increased funding for youth programs, but not as dramatically as a separate initiative expected to qualify for the November ballot. A majority of council members worried a ballot-measure compromise could seriously dent the rest of Oakland's budget. The meeting came on the heels of another blow to the city's finances: The council voted unanimously early Tuesday not to collect $12 million in increased Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District fees after officials faced questions about whether the new rates would have held up in court. The decisio

In what Oakland Residents For Peaceful Neighborhoods (ORPN) calls a "victory for the people" the Oakland City Council voted last night not to collect the increase in the tax for the Landscape Lighting and Assessment District (LLAD) after the Alameda County Superior Court upheld the tax. ORPN reports on this : City Backs Off LLAD Tax Hike At a special July 22, 2008 meeting, the Oakland city council voted not to collect the Landscape and Lighting Assessment (LLAD) tax increase that it previously declared voters had approved. The decision is a $12 million victory for Oakland residents, who expressed broad outrage at the blatant ballot-box stuffing in a mail-in vote that City Hall conducted in April and May. However, no councilmember admitted that she condoned and participated in the vote rigging. Instead, the council took cover under a state supreme court ruling on assessment districts in general issued last week. Before the vote, one resident told the council, "If the pr

Of all of the news from today's surprise inspection of the California Hotel, comes the shocking revelation that Ricky Graham, the Acting District Director for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, called Linda Carter, who's a tenants activist, not to express support for the tenants, but to complain to her for the negative press in Oakland Focus. That's sad. This is what Carter reports: Ricky Graham, is described as being in charge of the press and media coverage for Congresswoman Barbara Lee's office in Oakland, and Mr. Graham called earlier today to voice his complaint because I pointed out recently that there has been no visible public support coming from Congresswoman Barbara Lee, that suggests that she supports the rights of the residents to remain in their housing at the California Hotel. Congresswoman Lee has not appeared at any of the recent rallys or protests by the residents of the California Hotel who are being unlawfully forced out of their housing, and I believe that

California Hotel Residents Angry With City of Oakland, Congresswoman Barbara Lee | Surprise Inspection Scares Tenants UPDATE: Ricky Graham of Congresswoman Lee's Staff Makes Wrong Move I don't know what the hell's going on, but the City of Oakland's looking real bad in this matter with Oakland Community Housing's attempt to unlawfully evict the tenants of the California Hotel . Moreover, and I really like and support Congresswoman Barbara Lee, but her office is not looking good in this matter either. I just got this horrifying email from Linda Carson, which I'm going to post below and send to National Public Radio. I know for a fact that Congresswoman Lee's staff is aware of the bad press they're generating for the Congresswoman because they're leaving their tracks all over my specialized website traffic detection system and several times Monday. Even the Congresswoman's Washington DC office has got into the act -- welcome back! The Oakland

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I got an email from a friend who's homeless and reports that a man by the name of "ED" decided to end his life by walking in front of a train one morning at 711 Harrison St, near where she sleeps in her car. She reports that this happens a lot. My fear is that the cities of Oakland and Berkeley are doing nothing to curb the real source of new homeless people: landlord activity in those cities. Just look at the California Hotel matter, which the City of Oakland seems to be a partner in with Oakland Community Housing. It's an outrage.

Councilmenber Nancy Nadel (District 3, Oakland) is catching hell over this exchange with a property owner in her district. The basic news is that she does not see -- and I guess will not look to find out if -- any improprieties existed in the way the Landscape Lighting and Assessment Distict votes were counted. Check this out, which was on the Yahoo Message Board and the HarriOak blog: People may be interested in the following exchange between Nancy and one of our neighbors about the LLAD tax. For those who aren't following this issue, the measure would have been defeated by homeowners who are already struggling with taxes that typically range from $5000 to $12,000 a year. But the city wanted it to pass so it added extra weight to the votes cast by the Port of Oakland and by city-owned properties. Since this surely is illegal, the city is now preparing to be sued. (Which we will also pay for. Dishonest government is extremely expensive.) On top of the vote rigging, the State Supre

It seems that Athol avenue is experiencing a new rash of robberies and break-ins. It's caused a new buzz with people online. This was from the Yahoo Message Board: Greetings Neighbors: My neighbor on the 400 block of Athol was also burglarized on Friday, maybe early afternoon. Similar M.O. They got TVs and laptops. They even left my neighbor's big flat panel TV on the street (their truck was probably already too full of other stuff). This was very upsetting, since they are only two houses away, and either I and/or my assistant were working on the house (the neighbors house is just out of sight). In hindsight, I think I might have seen these guys. I did give them a second look, since they were unfamiliar and driving unusually slowly. I watched but then they disappeared around the corner. So that is very frustrating. I feel very stupid for not taking more action. Here's what I remember of their description (please note, this is a fuzzy recollection based on a very brief vie