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East Oakland Sports Center Breaks Ground; Congrats To Councilmember Larry Reid

The East Oakland Sports Center has been a goal of Councilmember Larry Reid for a decade. Now, it's going to be a reality. This is the Oakland Tribune's account : OAKLAND — Plans for a 25-meter East Oakland swimming pool and athletics center, in the works for decades as planners struggled to raise the cash to pay for it, finally broke ground Monday. The ceremony marked the beginning of construction for the East Oakland Sports Center, a $24 million project at 9175 Edes Ave., at Brookfield Village Park. "It's the community that dreamed of this place, and that dream, those people are responsible for why we're finally building it," said Councilmember Larry Reid (Elmhurst-East Oakland), whose work many credited as responsible for the project's long-awaited arrival. Community members began pushing for the project in 1976, when a neighborhood pool closed and children began swimming in a nearby estuary, community representative Jacquee Castain said. &q

BART's possible strike - a view from the street

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! On YouTube.com With BART's deadline to reach a new union contract or face a worker strike extended to July 9th but still coming up on us fast, I took to the streets to learn what the public thinks about this possible event. What I found was that many claimed they didn't even know of the possibility, but of those who did they all believed it would "severely cripple" transportation service in the Bay Area. I didn't tell those I talked to that the average BART union worker's salary was $115,000, or that the public ridership took in an average of $55,000, as that would be leading the witness. I wanted to learn what was on their minds and you can see that in the video. But people not being informed about this? That's crazy. But I encountered a frightening number of people who were not informed. It's not that they don't care, but I think they see themselves as powerless to

Hayward, CA to get new power plant with greenhouse gas controls

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! Right on the heels of the passage of the landmark American Clean Energy and Security Act , which establishes a kind of "cap-and-trade" system for greenhouse gas emissions, we have a project I'm excited about as it will be the first power plant in America designed with a federal greenhouse gas limit. It's called the Russell City Energy Center and will be constructed in Hayward, California. The facility is slated to employ 650 people and generate a one time tax revenue of $30 million and an annual revenue of $6 million for the City of Hayward, according to the website for the proposed facility. What's exciting about the development that we're finally seeing a project that languished in development hell since 2001 finally see the light of day under the Obama Administration and the new act. The act calls for modernization of the electric grid; this is a brand new power plant. It calls for

Brian Copeland - Event Chair: Erasing the Stigma Awards 2009

From DidiHirsch on YouTube: Cheri Renfroe-Yousem and Andrew E Rubin introduce Emcee Brian Copeland Oakland california comedian and advocate On Friday, May 8, 2009 Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services held the13th annual Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards - www.erasingthestigma.org to help dispel myths and prejudices and honor advocates who have advanced our understanding of mental illness. The focus was on schizophrenia. Joe Pantoliano introduces Elyn R. Saks - advocate, professor and author of the book "The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness"

BART Strike & Oscar Grant: strike hampered by police racism

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! YouTube , Blip.tv and Sclipo For weeks now, BART management and labor have been arguing over who should give up what on the eve of the expiration of contracts with the five unions that represent BART workers. But there's a problem: the matter of the murder of Oscar Grant and the revelation that another BART officer used a racial slur, and this was captured in a new video, raise questions regarding labor's moral standing to strike. While BART's police can't strike, as one officer told me, the unions essentially represent the labor issues for the police. Thus, the use of the racial slur by a BART officer with BART Officer Johannes Mehserle, coupled with the murder by Mehserle, opens the accusation that it was a hate crime. According to the San Francisco Chronicle , it was officer Tony Pirone who yelled "Bitch-ass N__, right?" As he was hitting Grant while Grant was on the ground. Wh

Michael Jackson passes | public opinion: "We Are The World"

More at Zennie62.com | Follow me on Twitter! | Get my widget! YouTube , Yahoo , MySpace , Metacafe , DailyMotion , Blip.tv , StupidVideos , Sclipo and Viddler Michael Jackson's passing is still a shock to me. The very idea that someone I feel like I grew up with left us at the age of 50 is just not right at all. I first saw Michael perform when I was 10 years old at the old Chicago International Amphitheatre in 1972; the Campbell family, who babysat me, took me and I remember it like it was yesterday. The Jackson Five was then the must see event and Michael was the star. Michael was like my brother. In a way for many African Americans he was just that, a sibling. I knew him as the guy who grew up in Gary, Indiana. We knew people who knew them in Chicago, so I felt close to him long ago. I think it's for that reason so many African Americans were on Michael's side during the years when it seems he was kind of flying the coup: changing his skin color fro

Oakland's KTOP Doesn't Get New Media

I'm starting to really feel sorry for Oakland's KTOP, who's efforts at getting out the Mayor's message don't work at all. For example, their presentation of Mayor Dellums videos is such that they're only seen by less than ten people, if that, over a five-day period. That's a laugh to say the least. The videos should draw over 1,000 views over that period of time, each. I could make a long list of performance errors, but they're getting paid for this, so I'm not going to bother at all. I have several reasons for my admittedly snarky prose: 1) they should be more curious about how this works, 2) they're not media distribution specialists but try to be, 3) they've got the resources to do much better.

Alameda Superior Court Workers Ask for Justice-3

By the SEIU on YouTube which writes: Rene C. Davidson Courthouse (Oakland) - On June 23, Superior Court workers throughout the Alameda Co. court system held noontime informational pickets at all of the county's six courthouses. They protested 73 layoffs -- 10% of the court system staff -- that are taking effect on Monday. The result will be courthouse closures and longer lines on the days that courts remain open.

Mayor Dellums On Oakland Budget

Here Mayor Dellums talks about the budget but I've got to say KTOP did a terrible job of placing this on YouTube. It was seen 8 times since June 18th until I found it. Also, this represents old media and shows that KTOP really doesn't get what it needs to do to get the mayor's message out. Terrible KTOP. Just plain bad.

City of Oakland, Council Member Jean Quan On The Budget Problem

In this video from her YouTube channel, Oakland District Four Councilmember Jean Quan explains how the State of California is "coming after" the tax revenues of the City of Oakland. "For the last four years the state budget has been on a credit card," she says. Now, she says, the state wants to take eight percent of Oakland's property tax revenue. She also explains the State of California wants to take city revenues from the gas tax - a total of a $17 million "hit" to the City of Oakland. She asks Oaklanders to visit oaklandbudgetchallenge.com I'm happy to see Quan use YouTube to get her message out; I only hope she does it more often.