Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

Susan Mernit, Oakland Local Founder and Executive Editor, was kind enough to post her interview with Oakland's At-Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan at Zennie62.com and at SFGate.com, and here at Oakland Focus. The Rebecca Kaplan interview's a to-the-point discussion of her reasons behind her decision to run. (A bit of disclosure: Rebecca Kaplan's communications director is a blogger and editor at Oakland Local.) Before the text is presented, this blogger has to make one observation: Councilmember Kaplan said she's thought "for months" about running for Mayor. Given that she's barely two years into her time as Councilmember, it seems safe to say Kaplan was not happy being Oakland's At Large elected official and wanted to be Mayor of Oakland as far back as after the first year of her term. But that's this blogger's observation: I yield the floor to Susan Mernit: When Rebecca Kaplan announced last week she had formed a committee to ex

See: city of oakland, mayor of oakland, ron dellums, jean quan, don macLeay, jean quan, greg harland, maya dillard smith, terrance candell The City of Oakland, California Mayor's race is more crowded than you think. It's not just Don Perata, Don MacLeay, Oakland District 4 Councilmember Jean Quan, and Rebecca Kaplan. The Oakland Mayor's Race has ten candidates, nine of them fully known and the last one still largely "under the radar." The full list of Oakland Mayor's Race candidates consists of incumbent Ron Dellums, Don Perata, Don MacLeay, Jean Quan, Greg Harland, Maya Dillard Smith, Terrance Candell, and an tenth person who's still not ready for prime time, but will be. Ten choices for Mayor of Oakland, California. This blogger just got off the phone with Greg Hatland, who's an Oaklander who graduated from Oakland High School in 1964 and lives close to California Attorney General Jerry Brown in the Oakland Hills. Hartland, who's we

The City of Oakland, California Mayor's race is more crowded than you think. It's not just Don Perata, Don MacLeay, Oakland District 4 Councilmember Jean Quan, and Rebecca Kaplan. The Oakland Mayor's Race has ten candidates, nine of them fully known and the last one still largely "under the radar." The full list of Oakland Mayor's Race candidates consists of incumbent Ron Dellums, Don Perata, Don MacLeay, Jean Quan, Greg Harland, Maya Dillard Smith, Terrance Candell, and an tenth person who's still not ready for prime time, but will be. Ten choices for Mayor of Oakland, California. This blogger just got off the phone with Greg Hatland, who's an Oaklander who graduated from Oakland High School in 1964 and lives close to California Attorney General Jerry Brown in the Oakland Hills. Hartland, who's website is at Harland4Mayor.com , decided to run for Mayor because Oakland has been a focus of crime for as long as he could remember and wante

The Oakland Salon Beatdown Video is back in the news as the trail starts in April. According to ABC News Channel 7 in the Bay Area, the pretrial hearing was held in Alameda County Superior Court, Department 104. Melissa Seals is the owner of the Oakland hair salon where she was the focus of a brutal beatdown by not one, but six women in the spring of 2009. The women entered the salon and two started the attack while one made a video of it. They then stole her merchandise and raised the blinds so people walking by could see what they were doing, according to The Huffington Post . Here's the ABC News video (Warning: it's graphic): The ABC video reports that in 2010, 36-year-old Melissa Seals is suffering from Post-Tramatic Stress Disorder. One of the attackers is named Kavina Bryant, who attended the hearing. Bryant is the woman in the green sweat pants and blue halter top who does much of the beating of Seals. Another woman, who Melissa Seals identifies as "

Richard Aguirre is an until now largely unknown Democratic candidate for Governor of California taking on California Attorney General Jerry Brown. In the video above, posted today April 17th, Aquirre walks in with the perfect activist-running-for-something attire of jeans, t-shirt, and pony tail, and expects to be taken seriously. Richard v. Jerry at the convention The result, even if that's his brand, is he's in a damaging video he posted on YouTube which shows him not being taken seriously. Richard Aguirre first challenges Jerry Brown to a debate in his speech, then allows himself to be shown yelling at Brown from the back of the ballroom at the California Democratic Convention. After that, much of Richard Aguirre's camera time is spent on a not so merry chase of Brown around the convention, yelling for him to debate like a Chihuahua might bark at a Doberman Pincher. Geez. Finally Richard Aguirre gets to within reach of Brown, who keeps going without st

This space has been constant in reporting buildings that get LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) awards from the U.S. Green Building Council and today's no exception. The popular luxury W Hotel San Francisco, next to Moscone Convention Center, earned a LEED award and celebrated in W Hotel style and fashion, by hosting American Idol Season 8 winner Kris Allen at a ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday at the hotel at a private, invitation-only ceremony. The timing is perfect because Kris Allen just scored his own first:  Allen signed a publishing deal with Universal Music. A LEED award is given to the builders of structures that have efficient, energy-saving HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) systems that use natural light effectively.  The W Hotel San Francisco is one of a handful of buildings in America, and even fewer hotels, to earn a LEEDS designation. Congratulations.

Waste Management is angry Waste Management v. Recology for the right to dump San Francisco waste is a battle with national implications. Why? It essentially pits one giant garbage firm, Waste Management, against it's much smaller competitor Recology and may pave the way for other local firms to have more success in competing against national organizations in the waste business. Waste Management is 43,400 employees in size; Recology, formerly NorCal Waste Systems, has 2,100. This blogger normally doesn't pay much attention to local trash, preferring the national celebrity brand, but a political battle between two established companies, and the fact that a lot of people from various sides have talked about it without any provocation, caused this space to wade into an argument such that regardless of what is stated, and how reasonable it may be, the other side - or some other side - is bound to be pissed off. But the reason for the attention from this space was a Marc

Today is April 15th, IRS Tax Day. That day where people get their last files together to make a list of fiscal expenditures and get their tax report in to the government before midnight. While today may be a day of dread, fear not, for it's also a time of IRS tax day freebies 2010. Now the trouble is while this is a national trend, not enough retailers or eateries are actually sending out press releases announcing a marketing effort. If this blogger were in the restaurant business, everyone would get a free drink if they purchased a meal and could prove they just filed their taxes. Now there is one company that seems to get "IRS tax day freebies 2010:" Starbucks. If you bring in a reusable mug on April 15th, or today, you get a free brewed coffee according to their website . Cinnabon, who makes those great, big cinnamon rolls with the thick frosting on top, is also part of IRS tax day freebies 2010. Between 6 PM and 8 PM at Cinnabon, you can get two free cupc

In a previous article called 15 common cognitive distortions- how our thoughts influence our mental health , I outlined a list of common cognitive distortions. In review, cognitive distortions are irrational thoughts that usually reinforce negative thinking and emotions and often serve to keep us from positive change. With effort and practice, you can reduce or change your irrational thinking style by practicing the exercises below. This article aims to introduce what a cognitive behavioral therapist might cover with you in therapy as way to help you reach your therapy goals. Identify your style of cognitive distortion(s) . Begin by creating a list of your automatic thoughts and examine them for similarities with a list of cognitive distortions, then outline them in a Thought Record . An examination of our cognitive distortions allows us to see which distortions we tend to use most often. Examine the evidence. A thorough examination of an experience or situation allows us to identif

Gary Meyer, who's a long time friend of this blogger, is a busy man. He's co-director of The Telluride Film Festival and the owner and operator of The Balboa Theater in San Francisco. Gary and I met for lunch at Jupiter in Berkeley and talked about the movie industry, but for this blog, we made the video about two shows at The Balboa: Playland and The Grateful Dead. (And for those of you who wonder, we split the lunch tab, and the food, too. I recommend a pizza-salad combination.) The Balboa Theater is Gary's love and occupation. Located at 3630 Balboa Street in San Francisco, Meyer took it over about six years ago; now the Balboa Theater not only plays first run movies like Iron Man 2 on May 7th, but has a lot of special events, the one's Gary's got coming up are a movie called Remembering Playland At The Beach on April 23rd, and The Greatful Dead: Crimson, White, and Indigo on Monday, April 19th. On Playland , Gary says, "Everyone was going c

In the wake of the news about Children's Hospital Oakland's fiscal problems , this video from their YouTube channel explains their "same-day surgery and diagnostic imaging" done at their Children's Specialty Center Outpatient Surgery Center in Walnut Creek. As the video explains, the facility is for "healthy kids" who need ear tubes and plastic surgery (no, not like Nip / Tuck). As reported last week Children's Hospital is undergoing what could be called a fiscal makeover. In an email Children's Hospital CEO Bertram Lubin said: We hope to restructure our medical center so that our losses this year are $15 million less that last year (which was $25 million) and that we can make a financial turnaround in three years. Children's Hospital's problems grew from California and America's high unemployment rate, rising medical costs and less than adequate Medi-Cal reimbursement levels. Children's Hospital has lost $80 millio

Have you ever wondered in frustration why someone you respect or admire decided to “stay” with a spouse or partner who has committed repeated acts of betrayal? Or do you tend to always end up dating people who come from alcoholic or dysfunctional families? Or maybe you know someone whose job consumes all of their time and energy, leaving essentially no time for self-care or meaningful relationships. This article aims to explain why some of us struggle to separate from unhealthy people or work settings that consume our energy at the expense of our own mental and physical well-being. Codependency became a widely used term in the 1970’s to describe family dynamics when one person is an alcoholic. Since then, mental health professionals have come to describe codependency as a learned behavior that often originates during childhood in dysfunctional families. Common causes of family dysfunction are chronic parental conflict or divorce, alcoholism or addiction of any kind, physical, emotional

The 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, the new version of the classic American muscle car from GM and Chevy, gets George Barris makeover for a Saturday event. On April 10th, Community Chevrolet , located at 200 West Olive Avenue in Burbank, California has the first, the # 1 Barris Kustom 2010 Chevrolet Camaro "Spirit" car, and it's hot. If you're wondering who George Barris is, you haven't lived. Barris created many of the legendary television cars like the 1966 Batman TV Batmobile, The Munster Koach from The Musters , the Beverly Hillbillie truck, and Knightrider KITT car, to name some of Barris creations. But this Barris Kustom "Sprit" Camaro is not for TV, it's for real (Barris likes to use the word "Custom" with a "K" so it's "Kustom"). Barris said: Today so many kustom vehicles have entirely too much work done on them. I believe we have succeeded in developing a kustom vehicle with just the right amount of kustom

Related searches: neo-nazi, san francisco nazi, marina district, sf marina district, chestnut and pierce, sf nazi party Why does it seem like there's a rise in the number of white people who claim to be Nazi, or more accurately Neo-Nazi and young people regardless of color who don't know how awful Nazi symbols are or why? The most famous example of the latter was the Taylor Swift Swastika photo scandal where Taylor Swift's representative claimed Taylor Swift did not know that A.J. English's t-shirt (English is the man who took the photo with Swift) had a Swastika symbol on it, and English himself said that people at the party just painted it that way! Then there was the more recent photo of Jesse James wearing a Nazi Waffen SS hat, and giving the "Heil Hitler" salute. And of course, there was his alleged first mistress Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, who posed in a Nazi bikini and worked as a model for the "Angry White Boy" clothing

Related searches: Bus Rapid Transit, City of Oakland, City of San Leandro, AC Transit, BRT, Oakland transit, City of Berkeley transit Bus Rapid Transit in St. Louis AC Transit needs our help. Yes, this blogger has been critical of the AC Transit Bus Fight, but maintaining service for those who can't afford private transit is critical. For those of you who have followed the issue, AC Transit has been working with San Leandro, Oakland and Berkeley in developing a rapid bus system that will significantly improve transit operations from Berkeley to San Leandro. The new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is particularly important to the Oakland area as it is one of the densest urban population centers in the country and most definitely the densest along the proposed dedicated lane for rapid bus service. That is why the upcoming planning and approval meeting on April 19 is so important to the future of transportation in San Leandro, Oakland and Berkeley.  BRT is an idea who's t

If you’ve ever felt annoyed, amused, baffled, or disturbed by the various ways people use social networking sites such as Facebook, this article is for you. “Can you believe she posted that status update/picture?” “Why would he write that on my wall, where everyone can see it?” “Why do people do that on Facebook, with no concern for how awkward or irritating it is for other people to see?” “I can’t take it anymore. I’m unfriending this person!” These are actual statements I’ve heard from people, in frustration towards others’ differences in personal boundaries on social networking sites such as Facebook. Quite often we see stark contrasts in the social judgment of our friends, family members, co-workers and acquaintances as they reveal themselves in various ways on Facebook. If we look closely, we can begin to understand these differences in social judgment (as well as our responses to them) as a reflection of our psychological functioning. The following list serves to capture