Oakland Focus News | Oakland News Online Blog

In the wake of the law enforcement clearing of Occupy Oakland from Frank Ogawa Plaza on Monday morning, and the news of similar actions in Portland, Denver, New York, and other cities, come the previously unknown news that the events were the result of an 18 city collaboration. The deliverer of that news? Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. On a BBC interview, Mayor Quan said she was "part of an 18-city" collaboration that centered around a large conference call to all parities. That explains a whole lot. It explains why it seemed the same message was being blasted by mayor after mayor around the nation. Constantly repeating the words "the encampment caused a heath issue" (or words to that effect) on television in city after city served to grab the overall communications message away from the Occupy Movement, and replace it with a narrative which says that the Occupy Movement is chaotic, dangerous, and dirty. From the looks of things now, the strategy seems

The latest news in the Occupy Oakland constellation of information is the effort to recall Oakland Mayor Jean Quan.  According to an email from a source, Sanjiv Handa, East Bay News Service reports that $100,000 has been pledged toward the effort to recall the Mayor.  Also, the latest Occupy Oakland news is that Oakland Police and law enforcement will move in to clear the encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza at 4 AM, Monday, November 14th. Here's the text from the email sent to Zennie62.com: FYI from Sanjiv Handa, East Bay News Service: The Oakland Bulletin SM The Authoritative Source About Every Nuance of Oakland Politics and Process Since 1994   SM $100,000 Pledged to Qualify Quan Recall A petition to force an election to recall Mayor Jean Quan has been certified for the signature-gathering phase. Proponents have a maximum of 160 days to turn in about 19,800 signatures from registered Oakland voters on petitions that are now available. Special interest groups and po

At a press conference Sunday evening, Don Macleay, head of the Oakland Green Party, Wilson Riles, long-time Oakland activist, Vicki McGuire, mental health professional, and Naomi Shiff, Oakland architect and preservationist, all called for Oakland Mayor Jean Quan to avoid what will almost certainly be a violent removal of the Occupy Oakland encampment.  Here are videos from the press event held at the Oakland City Hall Steps, Sunday at 4:30 PM. Occupy Oakland protestor and encampment dwellers received a third eviction notice on Sunday.  Stay tuned.

Oakland Activists Call Occupy Oakland Press Conference At City Hall Today Oakland Green Party Head Calls For Stop To Planned City Of Oakland Eviction at 4:30 PM PST For Immediate Release Contact: Don Macleay at 510-290-1200 Sunday, November 13th, 2011 Oakland Green Party Head and 2010 Oakland Mayor's Race Candidate Don Macleay, and long time Oakland Activists Wilson Riles, and Vicki McGuire will hold a press conference today, and will be joined by other Occupy Oakland participants on the steps of Oakland's City Hall.   They will assemble right in front of the Oakland City Hall steps, just 150 feet from the main Occupy Oakland General Assembly Meeting Area at Frank Ogawa Plaza, near 14th and Broadway.  Here's Mr. Macleay's prepared statement: <blockquote>We the undersigned are making a proposal to the General Assembly calling for a PUBLIC FORUM on Thursday Nov. 17 on the subject of HOW TO HARMONIZE THE OCCUPY OAKLAND PROTEST WITH THE OAKLAND COMMUNITY AT LARGE The

A video blogger named OakFoSho is running an Occupy Oakland Live Stream now, today, Saturday November 12, 2011.  He's covering the activities of the day, even as the encampment at Frank Ogawa Plaza just received its second eviction notice from the Oakland Police, and for the second straight day.  He says that UStream.tv set them up "for free" and are some "really down people" over there at USTream headquarters.  He said that the reason UStream dropped in was that on the night of the police raid on October 25th, 35,000 people saw his live stream of the happenings, as broadcasted via his cell phone.  So, the UStream people saw that, and worked to set Occupy Oakland up with a brand new system.  The first one for the Occupy Movement. So far, it's attracted over 200 views.  Right now, the live stream focus is on a teach in. For UStream this is more than a good-will effort; it's business.  If the Oakland Police and Alameda County Law Enforcement take

In an amusing blog post (and for its pure hubris), The Oakland Police Association has stated in a new blog that it's time for Occupy Oakland to go. Frankly, releasing this blog post was one of the dumbest actions any Oakland public organization outside the Mayor could have made. It just shows how little respect the Oakland Police have for the Mayor of Oakland and the chain of command. Here's the blog post: November 11, 2011 On behalf of the 645 Oakland police officers we represent, this letter comes to you out of duty to protect the Oakland community and its citizens. Oakland police officers are the 99% and we understand and sympathize with your message. We respect your right to peaceful protest. We are also sworn to protect the citizens of Oakland. Right now, Oakland is in a state of emergency. Our police officers are the 99% struggling in Oakland neighborhoods every day to contain the 1% who rob, steal, rape and murder our law-abiding citizens. The Occupy Oakla

For the many who never knew Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson, who was Oakland's last three-term Mayor, and its first African American Mayor, serving from 1977 to 1991, when he lost to Elihu Harris.  During his time, Mayor Wilson was a tireless promoter of Oakland.  The video below has Mayor Wilson making a video to announce the State Urban Economic Development Conference to help prospective developers and business owners build and relocate in Oakland.  In the video, Wilson presents different views of Oakland, showing everyone what a great city it really is. By contrast, Oakland doesn't have such events in the present day.  Instead, we have meetings to present our public safety plans to residents.  It's all fear-based, not economics based, and at a time when Oakland needs to create more jobs. Mayor Wilson died of cancer in 1990