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More at Inside Bay Area : “OAKLAND — Henry Chang didn't want a job as an Oakland City councilman. He had served on the Planning Commission and Board of Port Commissioners, but a job on the city's legislative board seemed unappealing. "I always told myself before that I would never be a council member, because it was crazy to be a council member," he said. "You know, people beat you up, all these things. I would rather be on the other side and know the council members ... but I sure did not want to be on their side." That changed when a dying Frank Ogawa made it clear he wanted Chang as his replacement as the city's citywide council representative. Chang was appointed in 1994 to fill the seat when Ogawa died. Fast forward to 2009 and Chang, 74, is retiring after a 14-year stint in the chamber. Voters sent him to City Hall three times following his appointment. Chang will be replaced Monday by Rebecca Kaplan, who, at 38, is barely half his age.” -- Henry C

More at Inside Bay Area : “RICHMOND — News this week of arrests in the Dec. 13 gang rape of a lesbian brought relief to many in the community, some of whom were so outraged that they led police to breaks in the case. But even as the resolution is lauded, gay-rights advocates and local and national crime statistics portray a gloomy truth about hate crimes against people based on their sexual orientation. Until the root causes of bias toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are addressed, "we'll continue to have hate perpetrated against us," said Shawna Virago, a program director for the San Francisco-based advocacy group Community United Against Violence. The group reported 304 crimes against Bay Area gays in 2007, the latest year for which complete statistics were available. That amounted to an approximate 6 percent increase from 2006.” -- What I want to know is who's doing this and why? What's the deal?

I made this 12Seconds.tv video as a quick response to the Brooklyn (Oakland) blogs assertion that John Russo should run for Mayor of Oakland: on 12seconds.tv

More from "BIG VINNY" : “MASS LAYOFFS AT BAY AREA TV/RADIO TO BEGIN NEW YEAR; TED ROBINSON AS NEW 49ER VOICE: CLOSE HAPPY NEW YEAR? AS 2009 hITS, A "HUGE" AMOUNT OF INDUSTRY PINK SLIPS WILL FLOOD THE SF-OAKLAND RADIO/TV MARKET, THE NATION'S 4th LARGEST. AN INDUSTRY SOURCE SAYS RADIO WILL GET THE BRUNT OF THE HITS, PARTICULARY THE "SECONDARY" SOURCES STATIONS USE, LIKE METRO TRAFFIC. KGO RADIO, OWNED BY CITIDEL, WILL SEE SIGNIFICANT LAYOFFS, AS WILL KNBR, OWNED BY ATLANTA'S CUMULUS BROADCASTING. THE SOURCE OF THE LAYOFFS? CONTINUING AD REVENUE SHRUNK TO RECORD LOWS DUE TO A STRUGLING ECONOMY. WATCH FOR DETAILS” Richard Liberman, AKA "Big Vinny", has done a great job covering the Bay Area Media scene. Visit his blog at bigvinnysbayarea.blogspot.com

More at The Oakland Tribune From the Trib: "OAKLAND — Barring any deadly New Year's Eve revelry, Oakland is poised to finish with 124 homicides in 2008, three fewer than the 127 recorded in 2007. Regarding numbers, it is not much of a change. But in a city where homicides seem to get more public interest than other crimes and in a city looking for any kind of good news when it comes to crime, it was reason for optimism. "I'm the eternal optimist," Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan said Wednesday. "Three less is better than three more. But we are not satisfied with that, and we will work harder to get those numbers down to double-digit reductions." There were eight homicides in December, six fewer than in December 2007. One of the eight was a man who died from a beating in April. Another was a determination through new evidence that what had been considered an accidental killing in July was actually a homicide."

This video by YoutTuber rebeccabelin1 was created at ACote restaurant in Oakland on College Avenue New Year's Eve. It's just people -- hey, no one of color? -- saying some funny things. The camera holder says she looks like a Transvestite. A man says that the Flip Video camera she is using -- I use one -- looks like a cream sickle. I must agree. The only misgiving I have about this fun time is that all of the people in the video are, well, White. And I wonder what goes on where some folks in Oakland don't have racially diverse friendship bases. Undoubtely the person would say they have friends of color, but are they more acquaintances than friends? Friends are people you invite to join you at events like that one. They're the people you make a call to, not just see on the street. I hope the folks in the video make a concerted effort to have a friendship base that's racially diverse in the future. That's the real strength of Oakland, or at least it was.

This is another great "JibJab" video, this one on our California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. As JibJab put it: "This funny video has Arnold Schwarzenegger going after the governor's office, and he won't take no for an answer. Part political satire, part action movie block buster, all hilarious. Hasta La Vista, Davis!" It's a funny retrospective as we head toward the 2010 race for California Governor, one that's paced by California Attorney General Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.