Walking and Talking With Mom On A Georgia Summer Evening

Regular readers of this space know this blogger travels to Atlanta, Georgia to help Mom and just keep her company almost every month. My mother lost her husband and my stepfather in 2005 and to prostate cancer. (In fact, my Mom had breast cancer, and my father and stepfather passed away from prostate cancer in 2005, so that was a hard year.) Fortunately between good friends nearby and my aunts and uncles just four hours by drive in Tennessee, and then me, she's not without company.

Even though it's hard on me as an only child, and I'll explain why later in this post, I do enjoy my company with my Mother and for several reasons. First, she knows who I am as a person. Second, I don't know how much life I have to share with her, she's a breast cancer survivor, so things she may said or done that have bothered me in the past, don't impact me anymore. Third, she's my only family member. And finally, my stress goes away when I'm here. We're out in the country where you need a good car to get to, and the wide open space (which is evident in the video) is incredible.

I find Oakland to be a stressful place to live. If it's not the noise and the constant sirens, it's the fact that at times it seems people are everywhere and you can't escape them. Then there's the occasionally neurotic person who's screwed up for some reason. Then there's the city's constant need for money such that it tries to get it from high parking rates and fees for this and that. And finally it's the large number of people who seem unhappy because they're out of work or for some other reason.

Now, all of that's offset by the fact that I know a lot of people and I am very much part of the fabric of the Oakland community. I have a good set of Godparents in Oakland, and friends I love very much. Plus, there are a lot of small "life fabric" improvements to celebrate in Oakland. But the overall mood of the city has been more negative than positive for most of the time I've lived in it. Oaklanders always talk about potential; I'm tired of hearing about that. After a while that gets to be a bit much.

So all of that brings me here to Georgia. Yes, Mom would love it if I has a family with kids, and that will happen one day. But my priority is to make sure my Mom's doing fine.

That's what my friends - some of them - don't seem to get. I'm an only child - no brothers or sisters to help out with Mom. My mindset is different such that I have to make my schedule with my Mother in mind. Thankfully my work makes that possible.

But all of that's mostly my guilt, which I've learned is common in only children to have. Whatever the reason, I've never felt better about me than over these last few years of my life. And that's because I'm right with my Mom.

UC Berkeley Letter To Students On California By Prof Michael O'Hare

 Berkeley Prof. Michael O'Hare 

The UC Berkeley Letter To Students On California by Berkeley Professor Michael O'Hare is one that California Gubernatorial Candidates Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman should see because both are part of the generations that Michael O'Hare points to as essentially responsible for the decline of California, but for different reasons.

Jerry Brown was Governor of California when Prop 13 (also called AB 8), the legislation reducing property taxes to 1 percent, was passed in 1978. Prop 13 us widely pointed to as the legislative device that robbed California of the tax revenue is used to provide the public services it was known for.

Meg Whitman never voted or bothered to register to vote, or participated in California Government and politics, but now thinks she can run the state.  The idea of running for governor somehow entered her head 26 months ago.

Who Is Michael O'Hare?

Michael O'Hare is Professor of Public Policy At The UC Berkeley Goldman School Of Public Policy, where he's chair of that schools undergraduate minor program. He also maintains a blog at Samefacts.com.

This blogger saw the "UC Berkeley Letter" in a group email from the Oakland, California-based Welstone Democratic Club's Yahoo Group, and it was taken his blog entry at Samefacts.com.

August 23rd, 2010
A letter to my students
by Michael O'Hare

Welcome to Berkeley, probably still the best public university in the world. Meet your classmates, the best group of partners you can find anywhere. The percentages for grades on exams, papers, etc. in my courses always add up to 110 percent because that's what I've learned to expect from you, over twenty years in the best job in the world.

That's the good news. The bad news is that you have been the victims of a terrible swindle, denied an inheritance you deserve by contract and by your merits. And you aren't the only ones; victims of this ripoff include the students who were on your left and on your right in high school but didn’t get into Cal, a whole generation stiffed by mine. This letter is an apology, and more usefully, perhaps a signal to start demanding what’s been taken from you so you can pass it on with interest.

Swindle - what happened? Well, before you were born, Californians now dead or in nursing homes made a remarkable deal with the future. (Not from California? Keep reading, lots of this applies to you, with variations.) They agreed to invest money they could have spent on
bigger houses, vacations, clothes, and cars into the world’s greatest educational system, and into building and operating water systems, roads, parks, and other public facilities, an infrastructure that was the envy of the world. They didn’t get everything right: too much
highway and not enough public transportation. But they did a pretty good job.

Young people who enjoyed these ‘loans’ grew up smarter, healthier, and richer than they otherwise would have, and understood that they were supposed to "pay it forward" to future generations, for example by keeping the educational system staffed with lots of dedicated, well-trained teachers, in good buildings and in small classes, with college counselors and up-to-date books. California schools had physical education, art for everyone, music and theater, buildings that looked as though people cared about them, modern languages and ancient
languages, advanced science courses with labs where the equipment worked, and more. They were the envy of the world, and they paid off better than Microsoft stock. Same with our parks, coastal zone protection, and social services.

This deal held until about thirty years ago, when for a variety of reasons, California voters realized that while they had done very well from the existing contract, they could do even better by walking away from their obligations and spending what they had inherited on
themselves. "My kids are finished with school; why should I pay taxes for someone else’s? Posterity never did anything for me!" An army of fake 'leaders; sprang up to pull the moral and fiscal wool over their eyes, and again and again, your parents and their parents lashed out
at government (as though there were something else that could replace it) with tax limits, term limits, safe districts, throw - away - the - key imprisonment no matter the cost, smoke - and - mirrors budgeting, and a rule never to use the words taxes and services in the same paragraph.

Now, your infrastructure is falling to pieces under your feet, and as citizens you are responsible for crudities like closing parks, and inhumanities like closing battered women’s shelters. It's outrageous, inexcusable, that you can't get into the courses you need, but much
worse that Oakland police have stopped taking 911 calls for burglaries and runaway children. If you read what your elected officials say about the state today, you'll see things like "California can't afford" this or that basic government function, and that "we need to make hard choices" to shut down one or another public service, or starve it even more (like your university). Can't afford? The budget deficit that's paralyzing Sacramento is about $500 per person; add another $500 to get back to a public sector we don't have to be ashamed of, and our average income is almost forty times that. Of course we can afford a government that actually works: the fact is that your parents have simply chosen not to have it.

I'm writing this to you because you are the victims of this enormous cheat (though your children will be even worse off if you don't take charge of this ship and steer it). Your education was trashed as California fell to the bottom of US states in school spending, and the
art classes, AP courses, physical education, working toilets, and teaching generally went by the board. Every year I come upon more and more of you who have obviously never had the chance to learn to write plain, clear, English. Every year, fewer and fewer of you read newspapers, speak a foreign language, understand the basics of how government and business actually work, or have the energy to push back intellectually against me or against each other. Or know enough about history, literature, and science to do it effectively! You spent your school years with teachers paid less and less, trained worse and worse, loaded up with more and more mindless administrative duties, and given less and less real support from administrators and staff.

Many of your parents took a hike as well, somehow getting the idea that the schools had taken over their duties to keep you learning, or so beat - up working two jobs each and commuting two hours a day to put food on the table that they couldn't be there for you. A quarter of
your classmates didn't finish high school, discouraged and defeated; but they didn't leave the planet, even if you don't run into them in the gated community you will be tempted to hide out in. They have to eat just like you, and they aren't equipped to do their share of the
work, so you will have to support them.

You need to have a very tough talk with your parents, who are still voting; you can't save your children by yourselves. Equally important, you need to start talking to each other. It's not fair, and you have every reason (except a good one) to keep what you can for yourselves with another couple of decades of mean - spirited tax - cutting and public sector decline. You're my heroes just for surviving what we put you through and making it into my classroom, but I’m asking for more: you can be better than my generation. Take back your state for your kids and start the contract again. There are lots of places you can start, for example, building a transportation system that won't enslave you for two decades as their chauffeur, instead of raising fares and cutting routes in a deadly helix of mediocrity. Lots. Get to work. See you in class!

Fremont Cop Shot In Oakland, CA: Mayor Ron Dellums Statement

20-year-old 5 feet 7 inch, 240 pound, brown eyed and black haired Andrew Barrientos is armed, dangerous, and on the run after shooting a Fremont police officer who was trying to serve a search warrant at an East Oakland house at 2009 Auseon Ave, according to Oakland Police Spokesperson Jeff Thomason.

Fortunately, the unnamed Fremont Officers's injuries are not life threatening. He's being treated for a leg wound at Highland Hospital.

Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums issued this statement:

Our hearts and prayers are with the Fremont police officer shot this afternoon, his loved ones, his fellow law enforcement officers and the City of Fremont family as they cope with this latest incident of senseless violence. On behalf of the Oakland community, I thank him for his law enforcement service and express my deep regret that this dedication has resulted in injury on our streets. I support Chief Batts and the men and women of the Oakland Police Department in pursuing every lead to bring the gunman to justice. The violence in Oakland must stop. Our collective well - being depends on it.

After the shooting of the Fremont Officer, Andrew Barrientos wasn't done. The young punk criminal tried to carjack one vehicle, failed, shot at the driver, then successfully carjacked a 1999 green Mazda outside a liquor store. The car has a California license plate No. 4MJE548.

Oakland Police closed off several blocks in search of Andrew Barrientos.

Stay tuned.

KPIX Channel Five San Francisco Departures Listed By Rich Lieberman

According to an email from Richard Lieberman, KPIX Channel Five in San Francisco has suffered a rash of departures due to the terrible economy.

Richard's become the recorder of change in San Francisco Bay Area Media via his blog Rich Lieberman Report.

In fact, Rich's so good some of the local newspapers and news websites quote his scoops without crediting him. Not here.

Anna Duckworth 

Here's Richard's info:

Jeffrey Schaub sent me a list of the prime talent that have left or were removed from KPIX these past two years--

Manny Ramos
Tony Russomanno
Bill Schechner
John Lobertini
Rick Quan
Barbara Rodgers
Jeffrey Schaub
Hank Plante
Anna Werner
Lisa Chan
Sue Quan
Anna Duckworth
John Kessler
Sydnie Kohara?
Wendy Tokuda as anchor

Wow, I wasn't aware so many people left, especially Anna Duckworth and John Kessler? But that's what I get for being on planes back and forth to Atlanta and New York City so much. Also sad to read of the passing of KPIX' legend Dave McElhatton too.

Just to add some more info, some of the names on the list landed at other Bay Area Media outlets. For example, Anna Duckworth's a reporter at KCBS Radio.

Check out Rich Lieberman's blog at http://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com

Oakland Mayor's Race: Videos Of Candidate Interviews To Date

In an effort to keep you as consistently informed about the Oakland Mayor's Race as possible, this blogger assembled the first playlist of interviews of Oaklanders running for Mayor.

Don MacLeay 

This playlist, however, is not complete and but it will be, and soon. As of this writing, it contains 8 videos of seven of the 10 candidates, totaling approximately 140 minutes, and 6,051 views (and counting).

So far, Terrance Candell, Greg Harland, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don MacLeay, Councilmember Jean Quan, and Joe Tuman (with an asterisk), have been interviewed. Kaplan represents two videos with one more to be added. Tuman and Harland both have one more video each coming to the set, and in Tuman's case a full 30 minute conversation.

And I have to talk to Marcie Hodge, Arnie Fields, and Larry Lionel Young.

The playlists do not include forum videos or Oaklanders impressions of the candidates, or the race itself. That will be in a separate playlist.

As to how the videos came to be, the vast majority were initiated by me.  One, the Kaplan-in car interview, was totally spontaneous and there will be more like that one.  What can I say?  Video-blogging's a knee-jerk habit.

There are two types of video playlist systems: the smaller 416 pixel wide version is for the Zennie62 / Oakland Focus Blog. The larger 746 wide pixel version is for SFGate.com.

Eventually, this will be a one-stop place for a complete set of videos of all of the candidates that you can click back and forth through to make up your own mind on who will be the best person to run Oakland's government.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Mayor's Race: CBS Poll Of Likely Voters Leaves Out Info

Senator Don Perata

Seeking to help define The Oakland Mayor's Race, KPIX Channel Five elected to conduct a poll of 591 "likely voters" in Oakland.

The poll, of which this blogger has not seen the actual questions but may square with anecdotal reports, says that Former Senator Don Perata got 41 percent of 1st choice votes, Oakland City Councilmember Jean Quan got 26 percent of 1st choice votes, and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan got 14 percent of 1st choice votes.

The other candidates combined earned 12 percent of 1st choice votes.

When asked for a second choice those who picked Kaplan went Perata, and those who went for Quan picked Kaplan. But the CBS report never mentioned the 3rd choice results.

What this means is that CBS has some weird interest in not mentioning the names of the other candidates. In other words, their poll reporting is either sloppy, lazy or fixed.

Why in hell would Channel Five have any interest in the Oakland Mayors race to the degree of conducting a poll? It's not as if they pay property taxes here.

Congrats to Don Perata for being ahead, but the Channel Five poll and its reporting is not to be trusted.

Oakland City Council Race: Pat Kernighan Sends Hot Email About The Race

Councilmemer Pat Kernighan 

Just about an hour ago this blogger posted the news of Oakland City Council District Two  (Glenview, Chinatown) Candidate Jennifer Pae picking up a valuable endorsement in the form of Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson.

In the blog post, I offered the view that perhaps the backing of Carson "may be the beginning of the end."

May.

Even with that, and with the overall tone of communicating that Pat was in a battle, I got this hot email from Councilmember Kernighan:

Zennie,

Perhaps you are jumping to conclusions about the "beginning of the end" for moi. Would you like to report the facts that I have the endorsements of Attorney General Jerry Brown, Supervisor-elect Wilma Chan, Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker and Council President Jane Brunner, among others? Do you know that the leader of every NCPC and neighborhood group in my district supports me because I have worked hard every day for the past five years advocating for the needs of their neighborhoods and delivering results? While Ms. Pae was running around hustling endorsements this spring, I was working 60 hours a week doing the job I was elected to do. Why don't we let the voters decide.

Pat

As I wrote back to Councilmember Kernighan, that's a great point, I'll print that. And so I did.

But I remind her and everyone that I'm a blogger; thus I write my view of the World and in a media-and-Internet-friendly way. I'm not, nor do I wish to be, a journalist. However, I do insist on giving everyone running for office in Oakland their platform within this space. 

I have never refused anyone who has asked to be included here.

In closing, Pat's far from dead, but it's worth reminding her that she should not say she's not dead yet, because the last time that was said was by "The Black Knight" in Monty Python and The Holy Grail. And we know what happened there...




As stated, this is going to be interesting. Gotta like that Pat's fiesty.

Oakland City Council Race: Jennifer Pae Gets Alameda Sup Keith Carson's Backing

Jenn Pae

A slowly developing challenge to Oakland City Council District Two Councilmember Patricia Kernighan now has the magical look of an upset effort. Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson has announced he's backing Jennifer Pae as the next District Two Councilmember for Oakland.

"I am honored to have the support of Supervisor Keith Carson," said Pae. "Supervisor Carson has a long history of protecting working families and I look forward to working with him on ways we can invest in Oakland."

Jennifer Pae is a 28-year-old Korean American community organizer who has been involved in a number of grassroots political efforts in Oakland.

Pat Kernighan

It's not the only bit of news from Jenn's campaign: she's also out-raised the incumbent Councilmember Kernighan by (according to the last reporting period) over $10,000, or $36,638 versus $20,393.

While Pat reportedly has raised $47,000 overall, and before her last cocktail-oriented event, for Jennifer to beat the pants off Pat over the last period should come as a wake-up call for the incumbent.

If it didn't, then Keith's backing of Jenn should tell Pat that this may be the beginning of the end. At the very least, it's interesting.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Mayor's Race: A Poll's Being Conducted, But By Whom?

Don, are you out polling?

For some time candidates in the Oakland Mayor's Race, let alone Oaklanders, have not had a handle on who the real front-runner in the Oakland Mayor's Race was. And no wonder; no one had done a poll.

Well, as of this writing, that's changed. Someone's conducting a poll of Oaklanders, but what's n not known by this space is who's doing the poll. The only clue available that a poll is in the works is this Tweet:

davidcolburn - I've been polled twice on the Oakland mayor's race in past 48 hours. Is everyone getting calls, or am I just lucky?
about 6 hours ago via TweetCaster

The concern here is for the design of the poll. Does it mention each of the ten candidates for Mayor to determine awareness? Is it done by one of the candidates, or another group or organization? How many people are being contacted?

Whatever the case, a poll of the Oakland Mayor's Race is being conducted. A fair speculation is that it's by one of the candidates, and the bet here is it's the Don Perata for Mayor Campaign or some Oakland group.

More on this later in the week.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Joe Tuman's Yard Signs Missing

Joe Tuman 

When this blogger got an email from a person who was concerned that Joe Tuman's campaign was placing lawn signs where they should not be, and wanted to know where to file a complaint, it was discounted because there was no photo or video to go with the email.  No proof.

Instead, it seemed logical to connect the person who sent the email directly with the Joe Tuman campaign; they followed up with the complainer, copying this blogger in the process.

But what seemed to be a small issue's slowly turning into a bigger one. Here's the latest two Tweets from Joe Tuman's Twitter account:

Our Yard Signs seem to be disappearing....? Someone is not happy about Oakland changing for the better!

about 5 hours ago via Facebook

Are Yard Signs seem to be disappearing? Keep an eye out as someone is not happy about changing Oakland for the better.

And to be fair, here's the email sent that I wasn't going to post at first. Since the Tuman campaign's complaining about yard signs being taken down, it seems logical to post it, but without the complainer's name:

Where do I officially file a complaint, as Mr.Tuman is violating his signed oath, and other campaign laws, and is placing Campaign signs on public property, and on abandoned private property where I strongly believe he does not have owner's permission, blighting Oakland, months before the election.

I removed a sign of his on August 16 from a fenced-in abandoned business at 42nd Ave & Foothill. I hear there are many signs all over, especially District 4, 35th Ave, freeway ramps, etc.

Whatever's going on, someone's got it in for "Joe Tuman for Mayor" yard signs.  It's not all Tuman's fault; there are people who strongly back Joe's campaign and people who fear that a political unknown like Tuman could win the Oakland Mayor's Race.  

You know you've got a hotly contested political battle when yard signs become an issue.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Lawyers Forum Sept 10th; EBYD Website Fix Needed

EBYD.  Greg Harrland's running...

Yep. Another forum is coming up for the Oakland Mayor's Race. It's the Alameda County Democratic Lawyers Club Forum on September 10th. Held at Everett and Jones Restaurant in Jack London Square at 12 Noon that day, every mayoral candidate has been invited to what's both a forum and an endorsement meeting.

East Bay Young Democrats (EBYD) Behind Current Events

On its website on the Oakland Mayor's Race, the East Bay Young Democrats explain that "there are three main contenders for the cities top position, and goes on to mention Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Former Senator Don Perata, and Councilmember Jean Quan, and that's it. The web page was created before the June 10th mayoral forum at First Unitarian Church and never updated.

Here's an assist.

There are 10 candidates for Mayor of Oakland: Terrance Candell, Arnold Fields, Greg Harland, Marcie Hodge, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don Macleay, Don Macleay, Councilmember Jean Quan, Joe Tuman, and Larry Lionel Young Jr.

This points to a still nasty, but really fun-to-fight tendency of at least two East Bay Political Reporters to favor just the three candidates and express a desire to ignore the rest. How this blogger know this will not be revealed. But let's just say a lot of people share a lot of things.

Oakland Mayor's Race candidates be warned: the mainstream media doesn't want to make the playing field a level one. That means you're going to have to approach the media, and not wait for them to call you. Chances are you'll be waiting until hell freezes over.

Las Vegas Seeks Oakland Athletics; Will Build 45,000-Seat Stadium

Mayor Goodman

Just when it seemed San Jose was the only city that wants the Oakland Athletics to leave Oakland and move to a planned new stadium there, enter Las Vegas.

According to Ballpark Digest, Oscar Goodman, the Mayor of Las Vegas, said his city has entered talks about building a 45,000 seat domed ballpark for an American League team and representatives of that team are involved.

While Mayor Goodman did not mention the Oakland A's by name, it's widely known in the media that Las Vegas has been a favored option for A's managing owner Lew Wolff, and as recently as last year.

Also, according to the Sports Business Daily, MLB Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig reportedly met with Mayor Goodman and "A's Execs" as recently as last year, a rumor that neither MLB or the Oakland A's would confirm.

Las Vegas Mayor Goodman said that the talks were in "the early stages" and that they may not go anywhere, saying "I’m not going to tell you that it’s imminent." Regarding the A's, Mayor Goodman said "I have been advised we are designated an American League city."

Given Major League Baseball's involvement in this movement overtures on the part of The Oakland A's away from Oakland, the view here is The City of Oakland should go directly for a lawsuit against Major League Baseball, rather than just San Jose or Las Vegas.

Vegas Ballpark Would Be Part of Large Development

In order to pay for a new ballpark, more than likely it would have to be part of a larger development in Las Vegas. It would more than likely be a new sport-oriented casino resort with 2,000 hotel rooms or more and a large shopping complex. The main question is the difference between retail absorption capability in Las Vegas and any new spending that would be drawn from outside Las Vegas by this new development.

If you want to run the business of a baseball team in Oakland, and see the impacts of relocation, run the Oakland Baseball Simworld conceived, developed, and programmed by this blogger.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Sierra Club Opens Forum To All Candidates

This is a quick supplemental and update to this blogger's last Oakland Mayor's Race blog post on Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan's call to the Oakland Sierra Club Chapter's Volunteer Chairman Kent Lewandowski, asking if he and the organization would open the scheduled Wednesday, August 25th Oakland Green Mayoral Forum (from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM) at East Bay Community Foundation 353 Frank Ogawa Plaza Oakland, CA) to all candidates.

Well, after all of that, The Sierra Club cleaned it's own air and made it fresh-smelling again , well, to everyone except the Oakland Climate Action Coalition. (Geez, how many non-profits do we have!?)

A email was just received from Kent Lewandowski, which reads as follows:

Zennie,

We are proceeding with the forum and are inviting all the candidates.

I have the following candidates listed on the registrar of voters
filing report (see page 22):

1. ARNOLD FIELDS
2. DON MACLEAY
3. DON PERATA
4. GREG HARLAND
5. JEAN QUAN
6. JOE TUMAN
7. LARRY LIONEL "LL" YOUNG JR.
8. MARCIE HODGE
9. REBECCA KAPLAN
10. TERENCE CANDELL

Please see the attached report.

If you know this is incorrect information, please let me know.

Thanks,

Kent

Kaplan Scores!

This email officially clears what would have been a really bad error on the part of The Sierra Club, and really shows that the League of Women Voters was correct in telling the Oakland Chamber of Commerce that Oaklanders would protest over an exclusionary mayoral forum.

And kudos to Councilmember Kaplan, who cared enough to make a call on behalf of all of the candidates and ask for the process to be opened-up. It was.

And in case you're wondering, Kent did apologize to the candidates for his first email, although I still hold that Terrance Candell came down on Kent too hard. At any rate, both are good people; I think they're going to be fine. Here's the email that Kent sent to the candidates:

Subject: Green Oakland Mayoral Forum - Aug. 25th
From: Kent
Date: Thu, August 19, 2010 9:58 pm
To: candell1@yahoo.com, candidate@macleay4mayor.org,
info@harland4mayor.com, mhodge@peralta.edu, LL.Young@prurealty.com,
dave@perata4mayor.com, sgpiper@sbcglobal.net, j@jonathanbair.com

Dear Candidates & Campaign Managers,

After consideration and listening to community voices, the Sierra Club
have decided to open our "Green Mayoral" forum on August 25th to all
registered candidates for mayor (as of August 16, 2010). Please see
the attached document from the Registrar of Voters listing all
candidates who filed by August 16th, 2010 (starting page 22). There
are 10 registered candidates listed there. If there are other
candidates that have registered (in other words, if our information is
not correct and somebody is missing from the list), and it can be
verified, those candidates will also be invited.

We are going to modify the format of this forum to have fewer
questions so that we can hear from all the candidates. A moderator
will be appointed and we will attempt to stick to a limited time per
speaker and question. The event takes place next Wednesday, August
25th from 5:30 - 7:30 at the East Bay Community Foundation, 353 Frank
Ogawa Plaza, next to City Hall. Please be there no later than 5:15.
Doors open at 5.

Please rsvp with an email to me (kentlewan@gmail.com). We need your
rsvp so that we can develop a program for the event and get some
biographical information from all the participants. If you could
develop a *brief* statement / bio (no more than 3-4 sentences), we
appreciate it. We will have a very simple program and try to squeeze
some information about each participating candidate on it.

We appreciate your coming and participating in a discussion about
issues concerning the environment, affecting all the people of
Oakland. Please ask your supporters to attend, as well.

We look forward to an informative and enlightening discussion,
hopefully the first of a series on green issues.

Kent Lewandowski
Chair, Northern Alameda County Group
Sierra Club, S.F. Bay Chapter

p.s. I apologize for any bitterness my previous email caused. I am a
volunteer and not skilled at public relations.

Now Senator Don Perata, who had said he would not participate in any forum that excluded candidates, can participate in his first Oakland Mayor's Race Forum.

But, as written, this will be without the Oakland Climate Action Coalition as of this writing. They backed out because of the exclusionary nature of the original forum plan and announced they were going to do their own mayoral forum in September.

Perhaps they will want back in?

Stay tuned.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Kaplan calls Sierra Club, Oakland Chamber bullies LWV

As this blogger has written, The (yeah, capital "T") Oakland Mayor's Race is going to get even more interesting and today, Thursday, is proof. Pay attention to this blog post if you enjoy laughter and guffaws, and you know you do.

First, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan phoned to say she called Kent Lewandowski, volunteer Chairperson for the Northern Alameda County Group of the Sierra Club, San Francisco Bay Chapter, and the author of what's still the most awful email in Oakland Politics ever seen by this blogger, to ask him to include all of the candidates.

I must admit, this is funny

If you're just getting wind of this fart the Sierra Club broke, Kent Lewandowski sent an email to almost every candidate in the Oakland Mayor's Race (except Arnie Fields), to inform them and by "cc" this blogger that because they were not "viable" candidates, they would not be part of the Wednesday, August 25th "Oakland Green Mayoral Forum."

That meant the only participants in the "Oakland Green Mayoral Forum" would be Former State Senator Don Perata, and Oakland Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan and Jean Quan.

But that didn't last long because Perata's Campaign Manager emailed to inform this blogger that Senator Perata would not be involved in any Forum that did not include every candidate running for Mayor (presumably, including Arnie Fields).

By that, we can say Perata means all forums that exclude candidates for booyah-boogie reasons, which includes the Oakland Chamber of Commerce event with the League of Women Voters.

So with the Sierra Club "Oakland Green Mayoral Forum" down to just two candidates, Kaplan and Quan, Councilmember Kaplan called Kent Lewandowski to ask the Sierra Club to open the Forum to all candidates. According to Councilmember Kaplan, Kent said he had to take the issue to "some people" but would "consider" doing that.

My response to Rebecca was that she should just drop out of the Forum, if only to teach the Sierra Club a lesson. But after further consideration, I think Councilmember Kaplan should be insulted that the Sierra Club would not just go-ahead and open the Wednesday Forum because she made the call. Why give the Sierra Club such power? I don't get it.

Rebecca Kaplan

And on the matter of giving power to Oakland groups who don't deserve it in the Oakland Mayor's Race, we have the League of Women Voters (LVW) essentially getting its Forum-production marching orders from The Oakland Chamber of Commerce and The Bay Area Business Roundtable, but wanting to back away from them.

Pay attention.

Oakland Chamber bullies LWV

According to sources that will not be named, it was the Oakland Chamber of Commerce and The Bay Area Business Roundtable that approached the League of Women Voters with a desire to form what is a totally laugh-producing, belly-hurting set of criteria for their Oakland Mayor's Race Forum on September 23rd.

The basic criteria for the Oakland Chamber / League of Women Voters Forum are reasonable. First one has to be on the ballot. Second, they have to have what the Oakland Chamber / League of Women Voters defines to be a "viable campaign:"

1. Made a public announcement of an intention to run

2. Legally registered campaign committee with the California Secretary of State

3. Have filed appropriate financial reports with the City of Oakland and the California FPPC

4. Publicly accessible campaign headquarters

5. Telephone number, other than a personal or home number, listed under the campaign’s name

6. Campaign website and/or other campaign material with articulated views on issues

7. Campaign bank account and campaign treasurer

Ok, all of that is fine. But what's really hilarious comes next:

In addition, the candidate must meet at least one of the following criteria:

1. The candidate has received 5 percent or more of the vote, tested in a trial heat in a professionally conducted independent public opinion survey conducted by an experienced political pollster based on a scientific sample of the entire electorate with a margin of error of less than 5 percent (at a 95 percent level of confidence), if such a public opinion survey is available.

2. The candidate has reported in legal documents filed with state or city government entities the receipt, during the election campaign, of at least one campaign contribution per 1,000 residents of the constituency (based on the total number of persons enumerated in the last U.S. census), excluding contributions from the candidate himself or herself, the candidate’s spouse, or the candidate’s natural or adopted children. Contributions do not have to be residents of the constituency to be counted.

3. The candidate previously had been elected to or held, the office that he or she is seeking.

4. The candidate sought the same office during the previous eight years and received at least 20 percent of the vote in the general election.

Now, if you think about it and know Oakland Politics, the above criteria leaves the Oakland Chamber / League of Women Voters Forum with just one candidate: Arnie Fields.

First, there's no public survey done to fit #1, so that's out. And that's really a stupid idea because it doesn't say that every candidate has to be in the poll, thus, the poll could be rigged to help certain candidates.

Second, for the second criteria to be met, the candidate would need 401 donations. While there's an effort to help presumably all of the candidates get to that number, it's not widespread or perfect, and because of that it will fall short. Maybe two or three candidates fall into this area, but that's it.

Third, not one of the candidates falls into criteria number three.

Fourth, the only person who falls into criteria number four is Arnie Fields, who ran in 2006. Seriously.

Here's Arnie stating his support to keep the A's in Oakland in 2006 during an Oakland Mayoral Forum called "Choose or Loose The A's:"



It's Arnie Fields and Who Else?

So, the only one of the candidates out right should be at the Oakland Chamber / League of Women Voters September 23rd Forum is Arnie Fields.

In other words, it's a coin flip that the other candidates meet the donation criteria, so it's Arnie Field's show. Especially since Senator Don Perata's not going to be there.

So you could have Fields, Kaplan, and Quan at the September 23rd Forum. But how did this happen?

The Oakland Chamber and BANG vs The League of Women Voters

According to sources, members of the Bay Area Business Roundtable, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and the Bay Area News Group (which calls itself "BANG" and publishes The Oakland Tribune) approached the League of Women Voters with the idea of doing the September 23rd Forum, but with some form of criteria.

The LWV objected to the idea of having criteria to exclude certain candidates because it would "lead to protests," but the Oakland Chamber persisted.

Now, what we have is a place where the League is refusing to rubber-stamp a system it did not want to start with, but is in place. In other words, the LWV was bullied by the Oakland Business Community, and the publishers of The Oakland Tribune. (Which is shameful for BANG, which appears to be involved in trying to BANG, if not rig, the Oakland election process.)

Sad and for almost everyone involved...except Arnie Fields.

The League of Women Voters Partners with BABJA

Preferring to discount that error of a Forum, the League of Women Voters points to its new partnership with Bay Area Black Journalists Association, or BABJA, for a "different kind" of forum to be held on October 21st at Holly Names in Oakland, and presented by a "strong moderator."

Meanwhile, the candidates are "inundated" as one put it, with forum invitations. There's the John George Democratic Club Endorsement Forum at 920 Peralta Street from 10 AM to 2 PM this Saturday. The Sierrs Club Green Forum is to be held Wednesday, August 25th, but let's see about that one.

And we have the "Black Women Organized for Political Action Forum on Jobs" set for September 2nd at 6:30 PM at Beebe Memorial Cathedral, 3900 Telegraph Ave. After that, there's the "Arnie Field Memorial Forum" by the League of Women Voters of Oakland, Bay Area Business Roundtable, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and BANG on September 23rd.

Then, the one forum the LWV wants you to think about when you think of them, its forum with BABJA at Holy Names, comes up on October 21st.

It's really sad that some Oaklanders feel they have to try and "control" the political process. As I told Councilmember Kaplan, there's a small group of people in this town who think they have more control than they really do.  It's funny to watch them in action, and gratifying to see their plans fail.  No candidate running for Mayor of Oakland should be excluded for any reason outside of the law.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Don Perata to skip The Sierra Club Forum

Don Perata 

Breaking Oakland Mayor's Race news!

This blogger just received a late night email announcing that Former State Senator Don Perata will skip the planned Sierra Club Forum for Wednesday, August 24th.

Perata Campaign Manager Rhys Williams explains that...

Senator Perata will not participate in forums that aren't open to all candidates. Now that there is an official list of candidates, Senator Perata believes it is only fair, democratic, and respectful that all those voices have an opportunity to be heard. That was one goal of Oakland's new system of voting.

Readers of this space will recall that The Sierra Club Volunteer Chairperson Kent Lewandowski, sent what this blogger called an awful email explaining that The Sierra Club was going to exclude candidates it considered "not viable."

Again, The Oakland Mayor's Race has thirteen candidates: Tim Brown, Terrance Candell, Arnold Fields, Sharika Gregory, Greg Harland, Marcie Hodge, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don Macleay, Niki Okuk, Don Macleay, Councilmember Jean Quan, Joe Tuman, and Larry Lionel Young Jr.

Now, The Sierra Club Forum has just two candidates, Oakland Councilmembers Kaplan and Quan, and this space thinks they should follow Senator Perata's lead and drop out too.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Terrance Candell vs. The Sierra Club

Earlier, Kent Lewandowski, volunteer Chairperson Northern Alameda County Group of The Sierra Club, San Francisco Bay Chapter, wrote a rather, and this blogger will state again, stupid email to the Oakland Mayor's Race candidates Kent says aren't "viable."

Which is why this blogger's not returning from Georgia in time to attend it:



If you've not seen the email from Kent representing the Sierra Club, here, again, it is:

from Kent
to candell1@yahoo.com,
dluvcan@yahoo.com,
candidate@macleay4mayor.org,
info@arniefields.org,
info@harland4mayor.com,
mhodge@peralta.edu,
LL.Young@prurealty.com
cc zennie@zennie62.com
date Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 12:41 AM
subject Green Oakland Mayoral Forum - Sierra Club
signed-by gmail.com
hide details 12:41 AM (21 hours ago)
Dear Candidate,

Thank you for your interest in participating in the "Green Oakland"
forum sponsored by the Sierra Club. We made the decision to invite
the 3 candidates who are considered by all accounts as the "most
viable" in the race. The decision which candidates are considered
"viable" has to do with a number of factors, which includes the
elected office they may have held in the past (if any), their ability
to raise money for the campaign, and the level of organization of
their campaign.

We have only 90 minutes of time to discuss our issues, and hope to
include members of the community in the discussion. Thus there simply
isn't enough time to incorporate all 10 or more mayoral candidates in
this forum.

We understand your disappointment, but felt this was the best decision
in the interest of having a productive and informative event.

Sincerely,

Kent Lewandowski, volunteer Chairperson
Northern Alameda County Group
Sierra Club, San Francisco Bay Chapter

The email upset a number of the candidates in the Oakland Mayor's Race, but no one more than Dr. Terrance Candell, who's wife Dyan issued her own blistering email just three days ago, and on the same issue.

But Dr. Candell's email below was far more hard-hitting, perhaps too much so, because he refers to Kent Lewandowski as an "elitist pig," and a "bigot," which is going way, way, way too far.

Terrance Candell is pissed off 

As I wrote to Kent, I understand the raison d'etre of Terrance email and tone, but I don't support it at all. It also causes the entire discussion of fairness in the Oakland Mayor's Race to take a bit of a detour.

The bottom line that must be restated before the email is presented, is that there are people in the media and within some groups who think that only "certain" candidates in the Oakland Mayor's Race are "worth talking to."

In the case of the reference to "the media," about two months ago, this blogger received a phone call from one reporter who asked if any candidate other than Don Perata, and Councilmembers Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan were "worth talking to." The response here was that as media players our job is to talk to everyone, if possible, yet state our biases in an effort to give complete information.

The reason is that people just don't read print so much any more. Weekday circulation at the San Francisco Chronicle, for example, is down from 251,282 in 2009 to 241,330 as of this writing. The San Jose Mercury news wasn't even in the top 20 in circulation until it declared the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times as editions of the Mercury News, so that it's in the top 8 now.  That masks the fact that print is falling.

Meanwhile, we have more online choices for the passage of information in websites and blogs and social networks, and microblogs, and video channels, and the list of them grows each quarter.  But in the case of neighborhood websites, some that were once active, in some cases don't exist or are not consistently maintained.

The point is, information in Oakland is fragmented and scarce, so when a media maker has a chance to inform an electorate in full, it should not be irresponsible.  The Sierra Club was just that.

Here's Terrance:

Kent,

You sent me this letter, somehow indicating that I am disappointed, because I was not invited to your little elitist dog and pony show, where you can justify giving money to your friends. I am not. It would sicken me just to be in your presence.

The only thing that disappoints me is that the people of Oakland lose again because of elitist pigs like you. As far as your attempt to insult, indicating that I am not "viable", well, you people (the wealthy) have said that about us people (the poor) for a long time, and we've still won elections. I guess we'll see, won't we.

THIS IS MY CITY! IT'S TIME FOR BIGOTS LIKE YOU TO LEAVE!

Pass that on to your board.

I will pass your letter on to the person who wrote you.

Oh, and have a nice day.

Dr. Terence Candell, Ph.D.

Kent was not allowing that without a response, and to that I say good for him. Terrance owes Kent an apology here. But, regarding the issue in total, this is what Kent wrote to me:

Zennie,

Of course I know you are not a candidate. I read your post on SFgate.com, which is why you were cc'd. I was hoping to dispell some of the things you wrote. It is pretty hyperbolic to suggest that the Sierra Club is somehow seeking to "rig an election." (I believe
Terence wrote this.) Our members in Oakland count around 4,000, by my count. We haven't endorsed any candidate in this race, and I'm not certain that we will endorse.

We are simply seeking to put on an informative event - and to highlight some of the issues we care about (the environment, and climate change.)

Kent

(As an update, at least one of the "not-viable candidates" plans to have his (a hint) own "thing" before the Sierra Club event.)

So where are we with all this? In a state of semi chaos with left-out, pissed off candidates, other candidates who are elected officials calling them "minor," and upcoming forums with just 24 percent of the total field represented.

Oakland Cleveland Heights neighbors consider private security

In the wake of Oakland police budget cuts and crime rate that's not adjusting for the city's dismal budget, the City of Oakland and neighbors in Cleveland Heights, also known as Haddon Hill, consider private security as a solution.

But first, what's Cleveland Heights / Haddon Hill?

It's a neighborhood bordered by Park Boulevard, E 18th Street, Lakeshore, and The Mac Arthur Freeway, and contains the now-closed Parkway Theater and The Merritt Bakery. It has an estimated population of over 7,400 people according to City-Data.com.

Oakland Coucilmember Pat Kernighan issued this email to the Cleveland Heights Yahoo Group:

Dear Cleveland Heights neighbors,

I am writing to ask for your input to help out the residents in a nearby area. The north part of Beat 17Y has been hit hard in the last month by very brazen robbers. The neighbors there are interested in hiring a private security patrol. I recall that during one of the earlier crime waves on Haddon Hill, some of you had investigated and hired one of the companies who have cars that drive around the neighborhood. Can you tell me if that worked out and what the company was? I will share that with the Bayview folks. Thanks.

Pat Kernighan
City Councilmember,District 2
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, 2d Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
510-238-7002
pkernighan@...
www.patkernighan.com

The listed answer was for an alarm and patrol firm called Safety Dynamics listed at 4663 Harbord Dr in Oakland, but it's not know what experience anyone has had with them.

Other than Safety Dynamics, it's hard to find another Oakland-based private service. There's the Guardian Angels and San Francisco Security Guard, which isn't in Oakland.

Cleveland Heights neighbors must get to know each other

Even with National Night Out, there are not a lot of people in the Cleveland Heights / Haddon Hill area who really know each other on a first name basis and feel free to call out a problem as it unfolds. Knowing each other well is the best security there is.

Oakland Mayor's Race: League of Women Voters, Sierra Club said to discriminate

Terrance Candell's wife is really upset 

The Oakland Mayor's Race has thirteen candidates: Tim Brown, Terrance Candell, Arnold Fields, Sharika Gregory, Greg Harland, Marcie Hodge, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, Don Macleay, Niki Okuk, Don Macleay, Councilmember Jean Quan, Joe Tuman, and Larry Lionel Young Jr.

As of this writing, the next two announced forums will only have three of the 13 candidates able to present their case to be the next Mayor of Oakland. The Sierra Club and The Oakland League of Women Voters forums have some unique, clubby, and frankly discriminatory methods of excluding what it sees as "lesser" candidates running for Mayor of Oakland.

Reportedly, from conversations with a number of candidates, the League of Women Voters wants each candidate to have donations from over 400 donors, or 427. What that has to do with being a great mayoral election candidate, I have no idea.

In the case of The Sierra Club, they're reportedly taking the same approach.

All of this has Dyan Candell, the wife of Oakland Mayor's Race candidate Terrance Candell, in a rage. Mr. Candell sent the email below this morning, and to a number of people, including this blogger.

Here it is:

Discrimination in Oakland to Keep US Out!

I received a message on my cell phone from a relative stating that a man called her to inform her that Oakland citizens voted in Rank Choice Voting in 2006 and that she now has three choices for Mayor in the City of Oakland. He mentioned Don Perata, Jean Quan, and Rebecca Kaplan in that order. The caller who was probably paid by one of them did not mention anyone else and so she did not let on that she knew that there were more, one namely, Terence Candell. She told him that he did not have any right calling people with uninformed information, and that he should do more research before calling anyone else.

Many would state that this is “politics as usual” and let it go.

How long are people going to shrug off “politics as usual” or other unfair practices that affect them? Why did people fight and struggle so hard to get to this point, where all people would have equal rights, to just settle for “politics as usual” and springboard back to not having any rights and eventually no right to vote at all. What if we were back to having a 3/5 vote for African American men and no opportunity of voting for any women at all.

Will society go back to the idea that all women should be barefoot and pregnant with dinner ready by six pm and the house spotless? Will society believe that a woman should be seen and not heard? Will society ever stop discriminating?

I was appalled by the hypocrisy of the League of Women Voters, when they methodically created strict rules for their Oakland mayoral endorsement forum on Thursday, September 23, 2010, that only allow those who have held an elected position and of course have lots of money the opportunity to speak before their forum. Mind you, this is something new.

Another group, The Sierra Club, an environmental group, decided that they would adopt the very same policy to exclude certain Oakland mayoral candidates, as well. Go figure!

The league of Women Voters Social Policy from their website states that they will "Secure equal rights and equal opportunity for all. Promote social and economic justice and the health and safety of all Americans." They also state: "That every citizen should be protected in the right to vote; that every person should have access to free public education which provides equal opportunity for all; and that no person or group should suffer legal, economic, or administrative discrimination."

The Sierra Club strongly believes that in order "To save our planet, we must change the world -Priorities must change: People must learn to live in ways that preserve and protect our precious resources. Policies must change: Our institutions must abandon practices that recklessly endanger the environment.

Values must change: Progress must be measured by its long-term value to living systems and creatures rather than its short-term value to special interests or the economy. To achieve this vision, people across the nation and around the world must speak out with a powerful voice that cannot be ignored. Aggressive grassroots action on an unprecedented scale is essential to protect our environment and our species. There is no other choice. It will require leadership that is visionary, experienced, and strong.”

What if a candidate other than their selected few wins? Will they hold a special meeting with the new mayor to discover their vision or viewpoints on the environment at that time? How stupid!

How ironic that these two organizations/foundations are based on promoting human rights, education, change, and equal opportunity in one breath and are violating human rights and the right of humans to be fully informed and given opportunity in another. They refuse to hear ideas of other citizens outside of their bourgeois, elitist political arena, snubbing the ones they deem “not economically viable”. That would be discrimination, exclusive, and divisive, right? That violates everything those organizations have documented as their missions and claim to believe.

Why? Money

Has anything changed? No

What will happen to Oakland? The same thing - "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." Crime goes up.

What does that say about the “leadership” these organizations personally invited? They want people who endorse lies, deceit, exclusivity, discrimination and elitism. If Don Perata, an Italian man, whose ancestors were once considered immigrants, not white and called derogatory names similar to black people, allowed this, if Jean Quan, a woman, who brags about her family being immigrants, who were also treated unfairly, and if Rebecca Kaplan, female, who is openly gay and whose constituency faces ongoing discrimination, stood for anything, they would disassociate themselves from this process and not allow their fellow citizens of Oakland to be discriminated against by organizations such as the League of Women Voters qand the Sierra Club for their own political gain.

To Don Perata, Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan: STAND FOR SOMETHING! Stand for something and do not attend the League of Women Voters or The Sierra Club Forums, unless they allow every candidate free and equal participation.

If you do not, you do not stand for equality, human rights, the right of every citizen to run for office or the right of the public to be fully informed.

In this city, it is politics as usual when 2000 churches exist and people are scared to come to our city. It is politics as usual when we as labeled one of the most dangerous cities in the nation by our own media institutions. It is politics as usual when one group of people live on one side of the freeway and have their streets developed and another group of people who live on the other side and is completely ignored, other than to have vultures "land grab," gentrify and take their homes block by block. That’s what’s happening in Oakland. They want US out!

It is politics as usual to have untrained police officers on the loose with deadly weapons, deadly intentions and deadly results - murdering a mother’s child. It is politics as usual to idolize those who put money in your pockets, and your pastors’ pockets and allow the victimization of the poor to continue.

It is politics as usual to seriously look at someone as your leader, who recycles our tax dollars by way of consultant fees: "I pay you consultant fees; you give me the money back." Or people who held positions, and could have made a difference or noise about issues concerning the negative effects on the citizens of this city, and did not. They do not have real plans for the city.

Terence Candell is a man who will stand up and speak out for the citizens of Oakland, ALL citizens. If you want a person who is only interested in their own personal gain, you have three choices above.

If you want someone who will work for the citizens in the City of Oakland and not special interest groups, such as the elitist League of Women Voters and the elitist Sierra Club, then Vote for Terence Candell on all three lines for a definite change in Oakland, for ALL citizens.

Until then, this blatant discrimination must end. Please join us in fighting discrimination and divisiveness in our city.

They plan to continue with politics as usual!

Do you honestly like politics as usual?

Contact the League of Women Voters and the Sierra Club and tell them "Hell No!"

It's clear The League of Women Voters and The Sierra Club are taking the wrong approach, but I'm starting to think their impact will be minimal. The way to blunt what they're trying to do is to have a real forum that gives each candidate in the Oakland Mayor's Race a platform.

Stay tuned.

Oakland City Council Race: Pat Kernighan's buying drinks Wednesday!

Apparently the news that her Oakland City Council District Two Seat Competitor Jennifer Pae raised over $30,000 has driven her to the bar (just kidding). Oakland City Councilperson Pat Kernighan's hosting a gathering at Era Art Bar on Grand Avenue, just 40 feet from Broadway in Downtown Oakland, where she's buying cocktails for her friends and supporters - uh, with a donation.

If you follow this space, you recall the last political event this blogger attended at Era Art Bar: the Blogger Party for Libby Schaaf, who's running for the Oakland City Council District Four seat.  In fact, here's the video:



But - not that I'm complaining - you had to buy your drinks, which is great for controlling cocktail consumption!  (And The Era Art Bar's becoming the venue of choice for Oakland political events of late, with Libby, Pat and Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan holding shindigs there.)

Pat Kernighan

This news of "Complimentary Drinks" emphasized in the email reminds this blogger of the great political election events of the 1990s where you never had to pay for a drink. Of course, the events were held by the San Francisco Democratic Party at The Fairmount Hotel.

But I digress.

The event is held this Wednesday, August 18th from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM, a donation of between $100 if you're a friend and $700 if you're an "angel" is required, and you MUST RSVP by emailing patforcouncil@gmail.com and you can visit her website at www.patforcouncil.com

And as I'm 2,000 miles away, I will not be able to attend.

Oakland Mayor's Race: Jean Quan, there are no "minor" candidates

Get it?  Huh?  

Now that the Oakland Mayor's Race has reached its second season and is heading toward the November election, we have candidates and groups trying to push what they see as "minor candidates" as Oakland Councilmember Jean Quan said Wednesday, out of the way.

 But Councilmember Quan is really wrong, and this blogger's disappointed that she made the statement because with New Media and IRV, there are no minor candidates.

This blogger is consistently disappointed at the display of the amazing levels of both hubris and, frankly, stupidity that have come to mark the media strategy in the Oakland Mayor's Race.

Newspapers are not the number one source of information today in politics: the Internet is. But the people who run their election campaigns in Oakland, as well as those producing the forums, don't seem to get that. They think that by their actions in excluding talking to all of the candidates, or by some campaigners raising a lot of money, or by calling an editor at a print newspaper, they automatically will be the "major candidate."

No.

Here's an example, as of 8:16 AM PDT. Go to Google.com and type "don perata oakland," then scroll down. Now, the fourth result is a website called "Anybody But Perata for Mayor of Oakland." And the first blog post asks if The San Francisco Chronicle is promoting Don Perata "on the sly," because Perata's photo was right at the top of the article.

To be fair, the reason why I've used Oakland Mayoral Candidate Dr. Terrance Candell's photo on my last blogs is that he's not getting the coverage some of the other candidates have received.  Joe Tuman, who I personally think has a good shot at this thing, has media friends to help him, like at Channel 2 and at KPIX where he worked.   Someone has to serve as the leveler, and Iv'e worked to play that role.

Money does not equal internet exposure

The point is, even with all the money Perata's spent on staff and to some degree the Internet, this problem in online reputation management that's presented by the ease of finding a websire like Anybody But Perata for Mayor of Oakland is the result. Just because Don, Jean, and Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan raise money, don't think it's necessary to win a campaign. It's not, nor is the impact of print media as important because it's almost non-existent.

The rule of the Internet as the source of information today is matched by the use of Instant Runoff Voting to create a brand new playing field. There are no minor candidates here and anyone can beat the other person.

The key is in how often the candidate appears online. I say that to each and every one of the people running for Mayor of Oakland, but save for a few of them, it goes into one ear and out of the other and I just laugh.

The other candidates want to leave it to the media, and then try to influence the media. You know what I mean; like making a call or email to the Chronicle about "that Zennie" or something.

Think I don't know, huh.

The bottom line is this: as long as both the candidates and print media insist on living in the 20th Century and not the 21st Century, who wins the Oakland Mayor's Race will shock them.

Paying attention, Jean?  There are no minor candidates in Oakland.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Raiders finally show timed passing game

This blog post was written in the head of this blogger before it was obvious the Oakland Raiders were going to win their first 2010 NFL Preseason game, 17 to 9, against the Dallas Cowboys under the Hue Jackson / Jason Campbell offensive regime. Because, even with dropped and tipped passes, what was most interesting and pleasing about the Oakland Raiders, was the real, timed, precision passing attack.

What was impressive was that from the snap of the football, to the quarterback's footwork, to the quarterback's hitch step, to the throw, to the receiver's routes, the Oakland Raiders quarterbacks are obviously drilled in the classic Bill Walsh fashion, with the objective of getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands and to the receiver as quickly as possible as part of a timed set of movements between passer and catcher.

Yes, Jason Campbell completed 7 of 13 passes. Yes, Darrius Heyward-Bey didn't have a catch. But the passes got out of the quarterback's hands with remarkable quickness, and little wasted movement.

It didn't matter if it was Campbell or Carrie Prejean's husband Kyle Boller at the helm, the passing personality was the same. Once the little things like the kind of pass thrown and how high it's delivered are worked out, the Raiders will be ready for what's going to be a good year.

Jamarcus Russell's not the issue

But the entire difference in the Oakland Raiders offense is that it's the most efficient in the passing game it's been since the John Gruden / Bill Callahan era. It's not that Jamarcus Russell isn't there, because if Russell's head was in the game, as some claim it was not, he too would have been part of this new approach for the Oakland Raiders' offense.

What you will pay attention to is what happens when the ball gets to the receiver; what I'm paying attention to is what happens to cause the ball to get to the receiver; that's the big difference in this 2010 team.

Oakland Raiders fans should be excited for what's to come, because with more practice and a clear offensive game plan (it was preseason) the Raiders' passing game will be so hard to defense, it will be lethal.

Indeed, it already is.

The Wizard of OZ, San Francisco Sunday Event: Help Is On The Way

Image via Wikipedia

For some reason, these events go together: today's the 71st Anniversary of The Wizard of OZ and on Sunday, August 15th, at 7:30 PM PDT at The Herbst Theater in San Francisco, REAF, The Richmond Ermet AIDS Foundation holds its 16th annual presentation of "Help Is On The Way" called Help Is On The Way XVI.

Melissa Manchester

It's hard to believe The Wizard of OZ is a full 71 years young.  In fact, it seems timeless.  Music and songs from The Wizard of OZ are etched into my brain, in part because one of my favorite songs to sing at The Alley in Oakland, is If I Only Had A Brain.

 But it is 71 years yound, so it's important to stop
and consider the impact this awesome musical movie has had on American Culture. It has been translated in 40 languages, and been the basis for scores of reinterpretations, including the popular musical, The Wiz.

Which reminds this blogger why the link with Help Is On The Way XVI was made in my pea brain!

Over it history, REAF's Help Is On The Way has featured performers from plays, movies, and musicals like The Wiz.

Here's a video from 2008's pre-event, which includes an auction. But the real story is of the performers and character that are part of Help Is On The Way:



This year Leanne Borghesi, Carol Channing, Davis Gaines, La Toya London, Carole Cook, James Darren, Paula West, Bruce Vilanch, Kimberley Locke, and Melissa Manchester headline the performers as of this writing. And that list expands as we get closer to Sunday.

You can get tickets for Help Is On The Way XVI at 415-273-1620.

Oakland Downtown to pipe-in Muzac at 13th and Broadway?

Image via Wikipedia

Downtown Oakland, CA 

Apparently, the City of Oakland's going to great lengths, almost neurotic, to alter the street culture of Downtown Oakland, but this bit of news is really disturbing. It rests in a Facebook message I just received, and part of which is posted here:

have you heard about some of the ambitious plans of the Downtown and Lake Merritt Business Improvements District boards? Take a look, they want to pipe in shitty soft country musak 24 hours a day at all the corners of 13th and Broadway to drive away "undesireables"

So a visit to this link reveals a Wikepedia page which reads:

In July 2008, landlords in the district voted a parcel tax upon themselves to fund the "Downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown Community Benefit Districts" to provide "special security services, cleaning of sidewalks, beautification, marketing and improvement of district identity and organizational services for businesses in the downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt/Uptown neighborhoods." Since early 2009, the districts have provided roving private security “ambassadors” to sweep up litter, help visitors with directions, and provide security support in Oakland’s downtown.[49]
The districts are governed by advisory boards which have discussed plans and desires to displace political demonstrations following the BART Police shooting of Oscar Grant away from Oakland's downtown center of civic life, and an actual change of venue for the murder trial of former BART police officer Johannes Meserle.[50] The board has also discussed plans to spend district treasury funds to erect a permanent memorial for four slain Oakland police officers at 14th and Broadway, and $10,000 dollars per year for a subscription to "round the clock" Muzak to "immediately drive away undesirable people from" three street corners at 13th and Broadway.
The district boards have public relations committees to "feed stories to the press." The committees have recommended "pitching stories to entertainment, business, and real estate journalist (sic), that way crime would not even be part of the scope." The committee also recommended "inviting select reporters to cover the story" of the "Uptown Unveiled" street festival.[50]
[edit]

OK. "$10,000 dollars per year for a subscription to "round the clock" Muzak to "immediately drive away undesirable people from" three street corners at 13th and Broadway."

What?

That's the idea of a racist. That point of view is that, the "undesirables" are the black teenagers who hang out down there, who, because they're black teenagers can't possible enjoy Muzak, so they would not hang out there.

Stupid.

Some of the Downtown Oakland kids are so creative, they'd sample the Muzak with their iPhones, fuse it with E-40 or Eminem, and create a new Oakland music sound. After a time, that part of Downtown Oakland would be a hip place to hang.

Whoever allowed that idea to get out into the open should be fired. Well, on second thought, they should be made to hang out on the corner overnight. It's not as bad as people think; I catch cabs there frequently.

Rather than "chasing away" so-called undesirables, Oakland should spend time getting to know its talented youth culture.

SF Transbay Terminal Ground Breaking marks new beginning

If you follow this space, you recall the long process of working to get a final design for the new San Francisco Transbay Terminal.

The old terminal, slated for demolition, was the hub of trains into San Francisco from the East Bay and using the San Francisco / Oakland Bay Bridge. Then, after trains gave way to cars and buses, it was the terminus of AC Transit Bus Service and San Mateo Transit Service for the East Bay and the North Bay. But with all of that, it had still fallen into a state of deterioration such that it became a blight in the South of Market area of downtown San Francisco.

After the establishment of the Redevelopment Plan in 2005 and a competition, a design created by Pelli Clarke Pelli emerged as the unanimous winner. Here's this blogger's video from the competition and the presentation in San Francisco City Hall in 2007:



Ground breaking marks new beginning

The plan is to take shape over the next seven years and be complete in 2017. I'm certain the vast majority of San Franciscans, let alone people in the Bay Area, have no idea what dramatic change is about to take place in what was once the place that was known as the unofficial parking and transit hub for SOMA's nightlife.

It will consist of a large, 1,000 ft skyscraper, 2,600 housing units, and a giant, elevated urban park unlike anything experienced in America. Indeed, the six-acre park is so large given where it's located, it's more like a much smaller version of Golden Gate Park, but for Downtown San Francisco.

The structure that supports the park will also serve to connect various forms of transit, including the planned extension of CalTrain from next to AT&T Park, and become - this space' prediction - the new place for Bay Area teenagers to hang out. (Try taking a cyber walk around to see what I mean.)

Grand Central Station

"Today, in breaking ground on the Transbay Transit Center, we are opening a new chapter in that history of progress," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. "We are coming together to create jobs and revitalize our economy, and we are laying the first building blocks of a new 'Grand Central Station of the West.'"

Speaker Pelosi's right. The SF Transbay Terminal project will create 48,000 new jobs during its construction phase, but once finished, will transform Downtown San Francisco in a way that perhaps has not been fully considered.

"This is one of the most important and transformational public transportation projects in America. Once the dust has settled, San Francisco’s skyline will be transformed - as will transportation, housing, and employment choices for people across the Bay area and beyond," said United States Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. The U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration are proud to contribute to the first phase of this effort."

"This is a historic day for San Francisco and for the entire State," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "History will write that High-Speed Rail and a new engine for job creation and economic growth in California began today, with the groundbreaking of this project. It is a culmination of decades of planning to fulfill our City's vision of leading the nation as a transit - first City and a hub of a modern High - Speed Rail system."