City Of Oakland's Brenda Franzel Comes To Council to Save Her Job

If anyone had a doubt that the City of Oakland was in financial trouble, one look at tonight's Oakland City Council meeting should change their mind.

Watching via live stream from Georgia, this blogger has never seen so many Oakland workers come before the City and beg to have their jobs maintained. And these are good, long-serving, proud Oakland workers, like Brenda Franzel.

Really sad.  

Brenda Franzel,a revenue officer with the City of Oakland, just took the unusual step of coming to the Oakland City Council tonight and having her daughter speak before the Council first, and then and asking for "justice."

This as the Oakland City Council considers various budget options placed before it.

"I refused to participate in the slurs about who brings in revenue for the City, and by that, I mean money," Franzel said. "I blame the culture in which we serve for even considering cutting people who raise revenue for the city. It creates a hostile environment that makes it difficult to get our work done."

Franzel says that the "revenue division has spent five years working as a team, not against each other." She then completed her speech by offering that the "old revenue division understand the value of work that each section provides. I ask for the staff, please reconsider laying off staff in the revenue division."

Wow.

Jeff Levine "These are difficult and painful concessions for those of us who have been dealing with 10 percent pay cuts." He says it's now time for the City Council to pass a budget that's fair for Oakland.

The Oakland City Council is in session as this is written. See it live here: Oakland City Council Live Feed.

Oakland City and Unions Agree, Oakland Greens Fume Over Budget

Just got an interesting email from Don Macleay, last year's Oakland Mayoral Candidate, who is urging Oaklanders to come to Tuesday night's Oakland City Council Meeting. But before we get to his, and the Oakland Greens, issues, a comment.

The City of Oakland must agree on a budget plan by July 1st, and that day is this Friday. There has been a lot of focus on and discussion over a process that, long ago, this blogger knew was insular, and because the public doesn't have all of the past budget information, and because the arguments about the budget are within the margins and not about how to extend the margins.

What do I mean by extend the margins?

One problem is that of each property tax dollar collected, the City of Oakland gets to keep just 26 percent of it.

The other problem is much of Oakland's revenue-producing land is controlled by the Redevelopment Agency, which is a good thing, because that's the only way Oakland itself can collect 100 percent of the taxes the city produces. The final problem is that overall, Oakland's property tax revenue, like that for the state, has dropped like a rock, and the question not answered to this point is, how much more will it fall?

Well, before I go to far there, let's look at what Don Macleay sent over. This is the email he sent, re-posted with his permission:

don@oaklandgreens.org to GreenNews

show details 1:28 AM (12 hours ago)

It is very hard to sum up how bad the proposed budget is and how limited and short term the council's counter proposals are in an email and still expect anyone to read it.
On the other hand, if ever there was a time to join the public at an Oakland City Council meeting, it would be this Tuesday evening. Please take a moment to stand up and be counted at this time.

Let council know that you do not appreciate their pressure tactics, the out of public eye debate and the budget crisis overall. It is also clear that we need to change the budget process and reform the whole account ledger. Council should use the short reprieve that their amended budgets offer us to call a budget convention and bring a new plan to the voters for approval before this becomes a crisis again.

I will try to at least sum up the last few episodes of this soap opera.
Our mayor proposed a budget two months ago that had three speeds:
A - With the money we got and without concessions from the unions
B - with concessions from the unions
C - with concessions from the unions and a parcel tax

For whatever reason, she included in this proposed budget, version A, the near total shutdown ofour library system. Some say that was to pressure the unions for concessions, other say it was to pressure the voters for a parcel tax and I say it was poor leadership if either is true. Even if neither is true it is not great leadership.

Option A will open up as a pdf file and can be accessed at this link:

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca/groups/cityadministrator/documents/report/oak028937.pdf

For the same two months our City Council has not been forthcoming about their counter proposals.

The few sessions they held in public there were no amendments proposed or debated on in public by them. The public organized a save the libraries, save the film office, save whatever campaign and people spoke out against the cuts.

When asked about why they were not coming up with something else we were told that the Brown Act kept them from working in private with more than 4 of them at once. Nothing about the Brown Act keeps them from debating the budget in public in open session, but no version of that ever happened.

Now we have a 4 member, a 3 member and a 1 council member counter-proposals made public only a few days before the final deadline to vote in a new budget.

Counter proposals are:

1) Reid-Brooks-Brunner
2) Schaaf-Kaplan-Nadel-Kernighan
3) De La Fuente

All three can be accessed at this link (recommend copy - paste):

http://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=909242&GUID=8F89FA9A-0A70-4FE4-9941-6A9ECBCA5
93D&Options=&Search=>

The Council convenes in open session at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, June 28, 2011, at City Hall Council Chambers.

The schedule details can be found here:

http://oakland.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=149612&GUID=049171A5-56F1-4EAA-ABC7-412E02B8501C&Options=info|&Search

If necessary, a second meeting will convene at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, June 30, 2011, at City Hall Council Chambers.

To sign up for a speaker's card see

http://www.oaklandnet.com/cityclerk/speakerupdate.asp
http://www.oaklandnet.com/cityclerk/speakerupdate.asp

A budget must be passed by the 30th.

Writing for myself, but with the agreement of many other Oakland Greens, I have to say that all the big issues of our local government's endless budget instability have not been fixed in any way shape or form. We need to raise more taxes and raise those taxes in a more simple and fair way.

There is nothing in this budget to look at the Port as a revenue contributor, deal with the crazy taxes and fines that are hurting local employment, counterbalance the distortions that Prop 13 give us in the real estate market and so on. In the next Council Elections we should talk more about this by putting up challengers to the incumbents willing to change the way we collect taxes.

On the spending side we are not finding a balance between real estate development, police and fire and everything else. The pension formulas do not work and council has kicked that can down the road in a way that will both cost a lot and still not offer most of our public employees a secure retirement income. (that is a lose-lose deal).

Our hands are tied every which way with gimmicks inside the different important propositions we have voted. We have Prop Y but still no commitment
to the core community policing and we have Prop Q, but the Mayor can still offer to shut it down and close 14 out of 18 libraries.

Both of those propositions have some triggers in them and obligations in them that do not make any sense, except for keeping political friends. One could go on. We Greens should make these points come next election time. A progressive agenda for Oakland is one that will give us stable reliable government with stable reliable funding.

Let's keep in mind that the Redevelopment Budget is larger than our General Fund. Some Redevelopment funds have been spent to prop up the general fund in some pretty contrived manners only a lawyer could love. The Redevelopment Funds cause the state to “backfill” the county because it does not have enough income to meet the School Board allocations.

These Redevelopment Funds are somehow so sacrosanct that one is not allowed to question funding speculative real-estate projects to local developers at a time when we cannot keep all our libraries open or our community policing staffed. Because we do nothing to advocate a plan B, we may just lose Redevelopment Funds without much ado as a dictate of the State Budget. I do not know if we have a balanced City Budget if that happens.

But remember that City Council is also the Redevelopment Committee without a mayor or any other check, balance or serious oversight. So we have a council that has this kind of power on the side and just accepts the Redevelopment Rules whether they are good for Oakland or not.

If the Redevelopment Committee still exists by next election, we should consider what we really want to do with that money and how we want it governed and monitored.

A real council seat candidate debate will have the Redevelopment Committee affairs as major issues. We also have a council that just accepts some of the bad deals that the state and county hand down to us without a squeak of protest. By this I mean the way sales taxes are collected and distributed for an income example.

For an unfunded mandate example we have the state prison and parole systems which are either the worst in the nation or second worst. That system returns
offenders into our community without any reform and little help to integrate. We could probably save money and misery by reopening our own city jail and offering to keep these offenders here.

One can go on a long time on this subject and next election we plan to bring it up in a big way. In many countries the budget is what defines the government; lose a budge vote, lose the government.

How would this budget define us? Well, we love our police, fire and land developers a lot and we put our parks, libraries and public spaces on the low priority side of things.

A budget crisis like this one would cause other governments to resign.

Ours probably should, but I don't think that they will.

So we will have to vote them out by voting something better in.

Don Macleay

Oakland Green Party

Don also included this post from Sanjiv Handa, dated June 24, 2011:

----- Original Message -----
Sent: Fri, Jun 24, 2011 10:25 pm
Subject: Budget Proposals Restore Libraries and NSCs
FYI from Sanjiv Handa, East Bay News Service

There was quite a bit of excitement Friday, when City Council members finally released three separate budget proposals. They were one day too late for the normal agenda process, forcing the City Clerk's staff to stay late on Friday to make the proposals available online.

The clerk's staff often must stay until 2 a.m. or later Thursday night into Friday morning to finish agenda preparations, and then return to work as early as 8 a.m. the next morning to complete agenda distribution by noon.

City Hall was a ghost town by 4 p.m., but the clerk's staff was not alone. Desley Brooks, Libby Schaaf, Mayor Jean Quan, and half a dozen legislative aides were still working away past 6 p.m.

Council members had already sent proposals into cyberspace before they were delivered to the city clerk at 1:17 and 1:18 p.m.

There were two "gangs of four" Council members developing budgets in private. Ultimately, Ignacio De La Fuente went out on his own. Larry Reid, Desley Brooks, and Jane Brunner issued a joint proposal. Libby Schaaf, Rebecca Kaplan, Nancy Nadel, and Pat Kernighan delivered a different plan..

In essence, all three proposals accept the bulk of Quan's $887 million plan ($387 million general fund; about $500 million in other funds, give or take a few million, depending on whom you believe).

There will be a Council meeting Tuesday, June 28, 5:30 p.m. to try and hammer out a consensus. If unsuccessful, another meeting has already been scheduled for Thursday, June 30, @ 5:30 p.m.

Labor negotiations are the biggest question mark. Closed sessions of the City Council will be held 9 a.m. to Noon on Tuesday, June 28, and again on Thursday, June 30, at Noon.

A deal has been reached with the firefighters union that has been pegged at saving the city $3.5 to $9 million a year, depending on what numbers you accept. Quan's proposal to close four fire stations has been rejected. However, the fire union has agreed to rotating closures of two fire stations each day for the next two years. Minimum staffing levels of four firefighters per fire truck and three per engine (the big hook-and-ladder) would stay in place until June 30, 2017.

All proposals call for keeping all branch libraries open. The Schaaf, et al, version even restores funding to keep the Main Library open between Christmas and New Year's.

All proposals save the jobs of nine Neighborhood Services Coordinators. However, they call for elimination of the job held by Claudia Albano, head of the division.

All proposals reject Quan's dismissal of Parking Director Noel Pinto and breaking up the division.

Council members also want to eliminate the communications director for the City Attorney's Office, held by Alex Katz.

The Film Office would be retained, along with Amy Zins' job, which would be transferred to redevelopment. But her assistant's position would be eliminated.

The Oakland Mayor's Office Must Clear-Up Its Communications Process

This blog post comes as an advisory to the Oakland Mayor's Office, and it's done not for malicious intent, but to bring a stop to a growing problem that's reared its head twice in five days.

To cut to the chase, the Oakland Mayor's Office needs to determine what it's going to sent out in a communication to this blogger, and then make sure that message is consistently delivered, and without potential for misunderstanding, or appearance of subterfuge.

First, I must take time to thank the Oakland Mayor's Office under Jean Quan for at least trying to communicate with the public - it's a far cry from the previous administration. But, Mayor Quan's approach still appears as if it's confused and all too reactive to what's written in the press, well, OK, what's blogged by this blogger.

After trying to deal with this behind the scenes, I've just plain had it.

The first episode started when I received an email from Susan Piper, Mayor Quan's Special Assistant, who played a key role in Quan's successful candidacy. I like Susan, so this doesn't come from a point of dislike, but one of extreme disappointment, so deep that this blog post is the best, last resort.

It appears Piper, the Mayor herself, and the City of Oakland's Communications Office are on a different page at times. Take the issue of the announcement that the City was prepared to make former San Jose Deputy City Manager Deanna Santana, City Administrator.

I received two emails on this subject: one from the City of Oakland's Communications Office, the other from Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, via her newsletter.

Both emails had misinformation that P. Lamont Ewell was Oakland's City Manager, rather than Assistant City Manager, thus effectively removing former Oakland City Manager Craig Kocian from the city's history. The first email contained a press release attached and dated June 21st which called Ewell "Oakland City Manager."

Then, the second email, which contained Quan's Newsletter, had not just the same reference to Ewell as Oakland's City Manager in 1995 (when it was Kocian) but also called Deanna Santana the Deputy Mayor of San Jose.

I called out the Mayor's Office for the mistake and reminded anyone, regardless of whether they were paying attention, that Kocian was City Manager. (Momentary aside here: I blog to strategically seed the Internet for revenue gain, message control and real estate development, not to gain attention. Only a lobotomized knave would think other wise.)

Piper contacted me via email demanding to know where I got the information that the Mayor's Office said Ewell was City Manager in 1995. I sent the evidence to Piper along with a request for a bottle of wine. Piper admitted I was correct, but did not apologize for the error, just told me to have a virtual glass of wine.

That was on Thursday, and I was willing to overlook that issue. After all, I made my point and there's now a clear Internet record to counter all of the incorrect press content created because of the Mayor's Office's mistake. (Well, I hope it was a mistake. Again, to communicate to the media that one person was City Manager, when someone else really was, is a pretty big error to make.)

So, I was done with it, it was behind the scenes, and in the past. Fine.

But this week, it happened again - and it's a young week. Today's Tuesday.

On Monday, I made a blog post of two events the Mayor was set to attend this week, and did so completely based on another press release I was sent. The blog post called "Oakland Mayor Jean Quan Announces Plans For Week," came from a note called "News from: The Office of Mayor Jean Quan" and was in no way communicated to me as a non-public document with privileged information.

So, I shared it with the public. After all it was called "news," right?

Piper pipes up with an email that was just plain, down-right, ill-advised. She wrote that "Zenie- the About Oakland is not a "public" document. It is a media advisory for the press so that they know where they can catch up with the Mayor. We would appreciate it if you would not repost the content to your blog.

My email reply consisted of one word:

WHAT?!

After this, I've had enough. Alex Katz, who served as former Oakland City Attorney John Russo's press aide, has never in something like three years, made that mistake. Any press contact knows that as the representative of a high profile elected official, you don't send an email out to a blogger regarding events the official's expected to attend and think the blogger's not going to post the information or mention it.

That's...Well, a number of choice words I'm not going to print.

The Oakland Mayor's Office under Jean Quan has to stop playing games. They're bothered by the idea that, unlike the standard press, they can't control me (Which has always been Oakland's problem with me, come to think of it.)

During the election, Quan wanted to know who my boss was and who gave me assignments. She couldn't wrap it around her mind that I was self-motivated. And now, I see what the game is from them: try and say that I'm consistently making errors, by issuing denials of my reporting of what they sent out.

That's a dangerous game to play if the Mayor's Office is not even reporting the right information to start with. I hope the Mayor's Office can see now, that it won't work.

But let's say they're not doing that. Let's say that Quan doesn't want information on, as Piper put it, her "whereabouts" out there for this week?

Given that there were just two items noted, the City Team Ministries Breakfast of Champions (9-11 am Tuesday) and the Ribbon Cutting of the new East Oakland Sports Center, maybe Mayor Quan doesn't want to go to one of them for some reason?

Wow.

Well, either way it's spun, it doesn't look good at all.

Wow. It gets deeper.

Well, either way it's spun, it doesn't look good at all. After all, the Mayor has more to do than just those two events.

What To Do?

The best solution is, first, to craft a full media strategy that starts with one word: reputation. And it should consistently as the question "Is what I'm sending out something that I will not have to recall?" And care should be taken to be as open with information and its dissemination as possible.

I work with some of the most powerful communications people in Hollywood and in the Tech Industry. The people I know would never make a mistake like that; the Oakland Mayor's Office should study how they operate.

Stay tuned.

The Black Holes of Healthcare, Lemonade,…And My Plan!

HI Your Fit Day Friends:

I hope you're all enjoying the spring weather. Here in the Bay Area we've had some pretty picture-perfect days. And the days are still getting longer.

Hey! You know what that means, don't you? More daylight hours... for... ex-er-cising! So no excuses; at least for the next 6 months, anyway.

Go enjoy the great outdoors and make fitness fun. Grab your kids-or someone else's-and Go Go Go. Visit your National parks, (hurry, while you still time, since many are set to close in September). Play on the swing-sets. Bike the trails, and run in them thar hills!!

Hey! Speaking of running...that's something I won't be able to do for a while, and I wanted to give you an update on your trainer's life.

My Hippy News

In my Part I of Key to Pain Free I mentioned seeing a second surgeon after I was 'misdiagnosed' by the first. The first surgeon, let's call him Dr. Compassion (not!), advised Motrin daily; told me to come back in six months if I was still in pain; and, without even looking at an X ray or MRI, told me I was too young for any type of surgery and to come back when I was closer to age 60, and sent me packing.

Huh? I see. At my HMO it's obviously all about patient care!

Let me give you a brief synopsis of our email conversations:

Dr. Compassion: (no x-ray to look at, but moves my leg around, taking all of 1 minute) "Yup, just as I thought, you have arthritis."

Debby: "Gee doc, everyone my age and even younger has a little bit of arthritis. I'm in a lot of pain. It came on suddenly. I had a weight training injury in June of 2010, I train a lot. I really think we should think about stress fracture of hip and/or possible labral tear, seeing that I have been quite an avid runner all my life, as well as a myriad of other sports."

Dr. C.: "Nope. Even I have it.(he's sitting back down at his computer now) It's arthritis. Do you get pain in here?" He says, talking to his computer screen and pointing to his lower back. I'm assuming the statement is directed towards me, but with no eye contact it's kind of hard to tell. He keeps scrolling back and forth, up and down looking for something, obviously not my X-ray. I just keep wondering... 'what's so much more important than his live patient in front of him?'

Debby: "Huh? No, I don't. It' in my hip, the top of my butt. I can't squat right", as I get up off the table and hobble two steps over to the door, the only free space in the room.

"Look, watch me squat; look at my right leg, how it doesn't rotate out like the left. It's stuck. This makes it hard to work. And look at my hips. I'm like a tea kettle when poured, off kilter. Something isn't right. I can feel it, look Dr. _...", I'm pleading. He turns his head around for a split second as I'm squatting, then quickly turns back to the computer screen. What on earth is on that screen? What is so much more interesting to evaluate than his live deformed patient, standing sqautting right in front of him?

Dr. C.: "Yah, arthritis, like I said. That happens."

Wha..?

Debby: "Listen, I know my body and something is going on here more than a little arthritis. I need this fixed. I need to be able to do my job, teach my boot camp style class that I just licensed, and build out my new fitness website with my workout videos for online training. I need to be able to move without pain, be nimble...you know, be in good form for presenting great content to my viewers, who depend on me for their workouts. This is my job."

Dr. C.: "Well, my advice to you is to change your lifestyle. You can stand on the sidelines like the football coaches who yell at the players, and do just like they do. And I'm not going to give you surgery so you can do some You Tube videos and teach a 'boot camp'. My suggestion is to start thinking about your lifestyle and change it. Do yoga, swim, walk. Now, go home, take Motrin. Then, stretch it when you don't feel pain, and keep stretching farther and farther, and maybe some of that flexibility will come back."

Huh? Did he just tell me what I think he did? Stretching is his answer? Stand around and yell? Don't they have a reality show for that?

Debby: "Listen Dr. C. I've been in the fitness industry my entire life. I'm young, strong and extremely athletic. I have many more years. I'm not here to talk about career changes. I'm here to rule out the possibility of a stress fracture or labral tear that could be casuing this malfunctioning hip. [OK?] I need resolution. And even if I were to take Motrin-which I will not-how long am I supposed to take it for? What's your plan? Do you even have a plan?"

Do HMO's have a plan for patients anyway, or is all the bottom line for the HMO? This is NOT a trick question.

Dr. C.: "I would say come back in six months. And if it's still the same or worse then we can do an MRI, maybe. But I want to see the X-ray first. And if it's arthritis, like I'm sure it is, then we wouldn't fix a labral tear anyway."

Debby: "Well, I don't want to take Motrin indefinitely if you have no game plan, and you won't give me an MRI. That's ridiculous. I need to know NOW what this is. And if the X-ray doesn't show a stress fracture then I want an MRI; I am entitled to one."

Dr. C.: "Get the X-ray. I'm sure I am right. Oh, and don't bother making another appointment. You can just email me and we can discuss your options online. Save your co-pay . Now, I have to get going I'm late."

And he slid out the door trying to make a getaway.

Late? I waited for over an hour, he spends 15 minutes with me, max, and he's late? This is my hip.This is my life. 'I'm in pain here Doc', I was screaming inside.(I had just started with M.A.T. again)

I shoved all my stuff into my backpack, slung it over my shoulder, half open, and I rushed after him down the hall.

Debby: "Wait, what do you mean I can just email you? What about patient/doctor relationships? Why are you so concerned with my co-pay?" And he was through.

In the big picture, when you want a resolution, that co-pay is insignificant. And emailing your provider at my HMO only allows 1000 characters per email. Now, assuming you've been reading my blogs that's hardly a conversation for this blogger.

I want one-to-one interaction; I'm entitled to one-to-one interaction with my provider; And, hey! I pay my HMO membership!

Well, I didn't wait for him to email me, nor did I set up that one to one with him. I high tailed it online to my former shoulder surgeon, and in under 1000 characters she was able to find me a wonderful, compassionate, caring female orthopedic surgeon who happened to be a competitive runner, skier, swimmer herself, and was privy to my pleas for help. Let's call her Dr. Yours Truly Compassionate.

But I wasn't going to see Dr. Yours Truly until I made sure I had my MRI. And getting that was like finding water on Mars.

The Expansion Of Black Holes

Sometimes, trying to get through the HMO system is like falling into a black hole. And once you get stuck in their vortex you have to be pretty strong to pull yourself out to get something done, and in a timely manner.

Well, since I was stuck in the HMO vortex, for now, I had to resort to their emailing system. And since I could only write 1000 characters at a time, I was usually cut off mid sentence, even half word. So it took me quite a few emails to finally get through to that first doc and get my MRI.

Here's how that conversation went:

Debby: "O.K. Dr.C., so you say I have moderate arthritis. But I am entitled to an MRI, and I'm entitled to a second opinion. And I'd like to have the MRI first. I need to see exactly what is going on inside my body so I can move forward, make a plan, and visualize the healing and get on with the process."

Doc: "Like I said, take the Motrin and if that doesn't work then we can go in a different direction. There is nothing you can do about the arthritis. Change your lifestyle. You may have to give up some things"

Debby: " I'm telling you, something is wrong with the structure of my body. I can tell. And I can't move forward if I don't know what's wrong. I can't start my group exercise camps. At least if I have an MRI we can rule out what it's not. I use my body to make my income. People are depending on me to provide workouts on my website. I depend on my body like you do on your hands for surgery. Please, I want my MRI."

Am I actually begging my HMO?!

Doc: " I am 100% sure that it is only arthritis as we see it in the X-ray. And it's moderate arthritis at that. You are not a candidate for surgery with moderate arthritis. There is no reason for an MRI. "

Debby: "Listen, nobody is 100% sure unless they are God!. Just please order the MRI. Look at it this way, if there is nothing in the MRI then you can pat yourself on the back, and you were right. But if something else shows up then we will all be happy, and we can move forward and fix the problem. But I can't wait 6 months to find out. And you should not make me wait six months. Well, if you don't order the MRI now, then I might have to hold my HMO accountable for anything that happens to my body from the day that I saw you."

You've Got Mail

Almost as slow as Snail Mail

Well, the next day I had, in my HMO Patient Inbox, a referral to the NMRI department. (The N stands for Nuclear, by the way). I finally got my MRI. Then I had a second opinion from the compassionate female orthopedist. Just for the record I'll rate her a 10 on the scale of 1-5!. Well, that was the visit where the Dr. yours Truly read the MRI.

And folks, it doesn't look good. I'd include the actual MRI but it's a bit too graphic for this G-rated blog. But here's what the X-ray looked like:

What do YOU see?

Cool, Huh?

Now, if you're like me you have no idea what you're looking at.

What's not so cool is that I don't have many options, and not a lot of time to decide, given my age and progression of the osteoarthritis. and the pain and lack freedom it causes me.

Options:

1. Do nothing and become a cripple
2. Learn how to hop on one leg. Great for training but not very convenient in the real world day to day existence.
3. Get the top of my femur chopped off and replaced with ceramic total hip replacement, THR, which is great for the avid golfer but not the active multi sport fitness gu-ress and trainer like moi.
4. Go with the new innovative technology of hip resurfacing,HR, which saves most of your bone, the head of your femur and allows for full activities after a year of rehab (Weight training, running, skiing, martial arts, surfing, splits, and all other sports).I can basically do everything except skydiving. Note to self: Set up sky dive session before surgery.

What would you do? This is NOT another trick question.:)

It's kind of a no brainer, wouldn't ya think?

Although the HR is a more complicated, it saves most of the bone so there is more to work with in case of a revision down the road (ie. chop off the head of my femur, lots of thigh bone, and replace it with total hip). However, if the HR is done with precision, and by the right surgeon, who has logged 1000's of procedures, and uses the correct prosthesis best suited for women, especially on small framed women such as your princess of fitness here, the chance for the best possible outcome is optimal.

Just My Luck

Well, not only did my HMO 'mis diagnose' me as having just some arthritis, they didn't even notice in the MRI that I had congenital hip displasia-or they forgot to tell me-which of course changes the playing field when considering what device to place in my hip, not to mention the experience of the surgeon placing it.

So before even consulting with a possible surgeon-who is NO. 3 below-I logged about 60 hours online researching procedures, prostheses, and the top surgeons around the world who had performed thousands of hip resurfacing, with a high percentage of them on female patients like me.

And when I finally talked to Surgeon No. 3 , I came prepared with a file busting at the seems with documentation on the pros and cons of the two most commonly used devices: the BHR and the Conserve Plus. The research for the Conserve Plus shows that it is better suited for small women with hip displasia cases; it comes in many size increments; and there is less potential for rubbing and leaking ions.

The research shows that the BHR is suited for larger men; or women who are 5ft 8 inches and heavy boned. I am 5ft, 6 inches, if that.

And I am small boned. The BHR is large and bulky and does not have as many of the smaller sized options suited for women my size.

There is also documentation showing a higher number of cases of ions being created when the particular metals that are used in the manufacturing of the BHR ball and socket are rubbed together. These ions would leak into my bloodstream. They can never be cleared.

My life's work is about keeping the body toxin free and creating a life free of disease for others as well as myself; not creating a potential breeding ground for cancer, or...whatever else.

Compared to the Conserve Plus device, the BHR has also been documented to show more groin pain after full recovery from surgery, limiting activities. The point of the hip resurfacing is to restore my lifestyle back to a fully active one... pain free!.

These potential problems, as well as ions streaming through my body, is not my idea of fixing the problem.

And based on a report written by Dr. Koen De Smet, who is one of the top-five leading hip resurfacing surgeons in the world, (and speaking with him through extensive emails, where, by the way, I was allowed as many characters as I could possibly write), I am NOT a candidate for the BHR.

Guess what folks?

My HMO only uses the BHR.

Synopsis:

I saw three doctors. The first told me to go home. The second told me I had to have surgery, but did not perform that particular type. The third looked at my X ray, told me I hip resurfacing was difficult on women, that he had not done manywomen out of his 300 surgeries, and after looking at my MRI forgot to mention I had a congenital hip displasia. On top of that, even though I had shown him the report comparing the two devices and the how the Conserve Plus had a better track record for women he could only use the BHR.

It's quite obvious that it's not in the best interest of my only right hip, and my future as a fitness professional, to use my HMO's one option, or even their surgeons.

What would you do?

Make Lemons out of Lemonade

Well, that's what Dr. Koen De Smet, the surgeon who wrote the comparison report, and the doctor who I have picked to do my surgery, can apparently do. Make the lemons whole again. Kind of like putting Humpty back together again!

Who doesn't like Lemonade?!

As for me, I'll stick to making lemonade out of lemons and take this as an opportunity to find a silver lining.

I have spent thirty plus years of honing my body and mind and, well... I was born with my spirit! So now, I must take on another great challenge in this life of mine. (If you know me personally you know the others).

But I think of it like this: I will take it on like any other challenging leg day sat the gym; attack it with a plan and put in max effort.

And while I am still fairly mobile and can control the pain I'll prepare for the battle and have the best positive experience that I can doing it.

Yup! You heard me right. Stay positive. Look towards the future. Make lemonade. And here's how...

The Plan

Anyone going into battle has to have a plan. And this woman warrior is no different. So from May until September's surgery I will work on getting into the best PREHAB shape of my life, given the limitations with my hip and the pain, of course.

Since I'm a girl who likes to lift heavy objects with my legs, and since that is no longer an option I am learning new methods of training for my lower body.

(And NOTE to all the ladies out there: lifting weights does help keep body fat off your body).

I am also finding alternatives to running too. Plus, this will be a good time to explore other new ways to keep my body and mind strong and centered.

Eating healthy whole foods and maintaining my 23 years of an unprocessed and sugar free diet to fuel my body is a no brainer!

The Team

Back to the lemonade!

I decided to compile a team of experts who could help me get into the best shape of my life pre surgery, as well as post rehab conditioning.

And here's where the new experiences come into play!

It's obvious that I am limited in my mobility now, and I will not be able to go to the gym right after surgery. But it's paramount that I be able to stay in shape and do progressive athletic prehab and rehab. So setting up a system that I can use at home, or even in my backyard, or anywhere for that matter, is really important.

So to date, with the help from sponsorships by TRX,

TRX Suspension Training Pro Pack

Kangoo Jumps

and Kangoojumps, as well as pre and post rehab conditioning programs from Josh Henkin of Ultimate Sandbag Systems, and Ed Le Cara of Sports Plus, I'll be ready for battle.

What You Get!

Remember, this is a team effort and you are part of it. If I don't win, you don't win. So, I will be chronicling my experience through this blog and You Tube channel Your Fit Day , pre and post surgery. All of the workouts I do with the Ninja equipment will be workouts that YOU, too, can do. Right now. At home. Anywhere. No excuses!!

So I want all of you to workout along with me. I plan to incorporate all of the prehab and post rehab exercises into exciting kick-butt workouts, show you knew techniques, and post periodic updates and videos...all to help you get in and stay in the best shape of your life.

And as I bring you along on my journey I hope to be an inspiration to all of you out there who may have limiting beliefs around getting into the best shape of your life. You can do it. Trust me. But you may have to dig down a little deeper this time.

Remember, I'll be working out as hard as I can to stay in shape. I'm not going to let hip surgery steer me off course. Not for a minute. I'll just be working smart, and around the pain of my hip.

But I will never give up what I have achieved and I don't want you to give up on reaching your fitness goals either. We can do this together.

What It's All About

Although I'm a super fit chick, remember this: I still have to work hard at it every day. It doesn't come easy. I live and breathe health and fitness every day. Every minute!

But know this too: being in the best shape of my life every day will make it easier both physically and mentally to get through this challenge and bounce back.

And that is why it is so important for you to get in and stay in the best shape of your life, every day. Nobody has a crystal ball, and you don't know what curve balls life will bring.

Be prepared. Be Strong. Both physically and mentally. Be ready to play ball.

And that is what this blog is all about: To inspire YOU to stay on a path that will lead you to a lifestyle of health and fitness where you will never give up on yourself in becoming the best YOU.

You Give Me Inspiration

And while I'm rehabbing, I want you to inspire me.

Tell me about your workouts and your accomplishments and how YOU feel. I'll be here to cheer you on in your quest for your bad ass bod.

Tell me, what is your greatest challenge right now?

Leave a comment below.

Car Driven Into Lake Merritt Oakland, Saturday Morning

Car In Lake Merritt Oakland, Saturday Morning , a photo by zennie62 on Flickr.

According to social media reports, a woman, unidentified, apparently, accidentally drove her car into the waters of Lake Merritt in Oakland, California.

The accident was reported on Twitter and this blogger found it via the use of the social search engine SocialMention.com, and during a search for "Lake Merritt."

The photo was placed by @BarakaBlue and them retweeted by @TjaderDaRaider on Twitter and with this tweet: : "Yes that is a car upside down in lake Merritt."

That it was a woman was reported by @MissKimmie123:

@MissKimmie123 Miss Kimmie
Action by the lake I heard a crash then a splash then hella oh my gods, a woman just drove her car in to Lake Merritt never a dull moment

UPDATE:

According to @BarakaBlue a "heroic dude" jumped into the waters of Lake Merritt to pull the woman from her car. Then Oakland Police and what was described as "medic and fire squad" was working to get the car out of the water. The woman was said to have lost control of her car, according to the tweets on Twitter.

Judging by the time reports, the accident happened around 1 AM. Also, by the look of the photo, the accident happened on the Lakeshore Avenue side of Lake Merritt.

As of this writing there are no other reports beyond these tweets. I checked Google News, and a number of blog search programs.

Stay tuned.

Oakland News: Changing State Of Blogs In Oakland, Part One

Oakland News on the changing state of blogs in Oakland - part one.

Oakland Blog Shrinkage

First, what happened to blogs like OaklandSeen and Good News In Oakland? The OaklandSeen blog started by long-time Oakland political activist and KPFA Morning Show star Aimee Allison has not produced a single new blog post since late May - it's June 24th now. And this tweet was issued June 8th and pointed to some kind of problem:

OaklandSeen has been undergoing a few technical difficulties. Thank you for your patience. Keep watching this space for more Oakland LOVE...

The most recent, most prominent blog post pointed to Oakland Seen's recently gained "Making Democracy Work" award, presented by the Oakland League Of Women Voters. That's the same award given to this blogger for work during the Oakland Mayor's Race - thanks again!

But whatever's happening, and sources have pointed to some difficulties between editorial staff and management, let's hope OaklandSeen makes a come back.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: hyperlocal is hyperstupid. Unless you're going to walk the beat and try and get local businesses to pay more than the website space is worth from a traffic stand-point (hey, there are suckers out there who don't know how to value what they're paying for), you can't make money and sustain a stand-alone blog site that just covers local community news and ignores World News, pop culture, and sports.

And all for the pseudo-intellectual reason of "That's not news." Look, the fact that people look at web items about, I don't know, Heidi Montag, makes it news. This blogger says this all the time to journalists: "Stop whining about it!" People are voyeurs, and so want to read about other people - a web link with a name of a known person will be clicked on more than one about a known place or a thing.

OaklandSeen is still up, but Good News In Oakland is not. It's dead for now, because when you click on the link to the URL, you get a Go Daddy-owned webpage where Good News In Oakland once was. That's sad.

What's happening is that, because the Oakland locals - OaklandSeen, Good News In Oakland, A Better Oakland, Oakland North, Oakland Focus and Oakland Local - largely don't work together, the overall web strength of the total group is poor.

The main problem is that there are a ton of huge egos among Oakland Bloggers that for the most part don't want to really work together, and for the dumbest of reasons.

To point the finger at myself, I've lent a hand to help a number of people, and even invited some Oakland Bloggers to cross-post to my blogs at Oakland Focus and Zennie62.com, and other blogs in my 100-blog network. Some do, but then fall off after a time, and then some bad mouth me for no good reason behind my back.

So I'm supposed to want to help that person in the future? I'd rather not. Life's too short for that.

If I'm asked to come to cover an event by another Oakland blog, I'm there. If I can't make it, I explain why I can't. I've shown many how to video-blog, and some how to blog for traffic - but that's where the rub is. Some can't seem to "get" that the Internet is not print, and people will not come just because you wrote the modern day equivalent to War and Peace. Who cares?

Oakland Bloggers: take your freaking ego out of the equation. You have to write so your work is picked up by search engines and news aggregators. What you want people to accept is a dream - wake up.

According to reports, Good News In Oakland had a fund-drive party on December 18th - I wasn't informed of that. But whatever happened, it didn't raise enough money to sustain the blog site; it's gone for now. And the fact that the URL wasn't purchased is reflective of the lack of value of the name itself; people don't type "Good news in Oakland" in search a lot. Just a fact.

What remains is a Facebook page "liked" by well-over 9,000 people, including me. It's one reason why I went off on The City Of Oakland's ill-advised press release about its Facebook Page that has barely one-third the number of likes.

The blog A Better Oakland chugs along, unsupported by ads or a wealthy investment banker; V Smoothe (Echa Schnider), the blog's owner, has a full time job with the Oakland Public Library system (which hopefully she will be able to keep). Plus, she has a tight focus and a small, loyal following of people who reallycare about Oakland, even if they always don't agree with each other.

That Echa has outside income is what makes her situation vastly different from the other examples. The other Oakland blogs have tried to generate income from some source; but while Echa has went on a fund-drive or three in the past, it wasn't to "save" the blog from extinction, more to generate some income for the amount of time she spent on it. Still, it's touch and go.

And what about The Oakland Post, the news of Oakland's black community and stalwart since the Jurassic age of news? The online version exists, but that's about it. It's just a collection of blog posts, and with no social media component - Twitter? Ever heard or it? - at all.

The Oakland Post is a sad example of the Oakland Blog landscape - so full of great potential, yet poor in execution because of lack of teamwork. If the vast majority of people in this town would get over their petty crap, the news would be different. But they don't, and the town suffers.

Ask yourself this question: why don't Oakland Local, Oakland North, and A Better Oakland work together? Why did A Better Oakland and Oakland North skip the Code For Oakland event? Was Echa invited? Was Oakland North invited? A look at their content shows that that Code For Oakland wasn't a subject of coverage - I covered it. But then I was invited.

See? Something's really wrong here in Oakland.

Stay tuned for part two, when I focus on Oakland North, that dreaded interloper The Bay Citizen, and some other surprises.

Deanna Santana Returns To Oakland To Become City Administrator

Deanna Santana, who came to the City of Oakland in 1995 and worked in what was then called the City Manager's Office and is now called the City Administrator's Office under the Oakland / Jerry Brown version of the strong-mayor system, was unanimously approved as Oakland's new City Administrator, replacing Interim City Administrator P. Lamont Ewell.

Ms. Santana started in the City Manager's Office when Craig Kocian was held the title, then remained as Kocian left for Colorado, and gave way toward then-Interim City Manager / Economic Development Director Kofi Bonner. When Robert Bobb was hired as City Manager in 1997, and Bonner returned to his role as head of the Community and Economic Development Agency that year, Santana remained in the City Manager's Office, but had the primary assignment of the Police Department.

In 1999, Deanna left for San Jose and has remained at the City Manager's Office as Deputy City Manager for 12 years. Her most recent assignment that gained media attention was as San Jose's point-person for the 2010 Census, and as the main policy formation contact regarding medical marijuana, including the development of a tax collection structure and a ballot initiative called "Measure U."

It passed in November with 73 percent of the vote, and San Jose collected its first revenue from it, $291,000, in May.

That may very well be why the Oakland City Council approved Santana: her experience with medical marijuana policy - in addition to her past experience in Oakland.

But I digress.

Ms. Santana earned her B.A. from Cal (Berkeley) in 1992, and Master of City Planning from MIT in 1995.

How do I know all of this? I was Economic Adviser to Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris from 1995 to 1999, and we share 22 Linkedin connections in total (I have over 2,600 of them). Deanna and I never had reason to cross the same work paths, but she was known for driving a cool Acura, as I recall. Denna was very quiet at work - got the job done.

But Deanna also was always "low profile," operating, as Mayor Elihu Harris would put in, "just below the radar," and not known for a desire to be in the public eye - so something had to change for her to come back to Oakland.

And I would speculate that in Oakland she saw the perfect place for an opportunity to advance and yet not really get out of what she perceives as a comfort zone. That's another way of saying she knows Oakland and its problems and can dive right in and get to work.

Deanna, who's social media platform has been largely thin - no website, twitter page, or other markings except her Linkedin and Facebook pages - will experience a massive shock to her online profile an hour after she's introduced to the press Wednesday at 10:30 am at Oakland City Hall, Hearing Room 4.

Oakland's Tupac Shakur Turns 40 - His Senseless Murder

Oakland Rapper and Actor Tupac Shakur turns 40 today, and yet while he's not with us, his spirit is.

The legendary poet-rap writer was gunned down in 1996, and by four-shots from a gunman in Las Vegas (the video mistakenly reports 1994 as the year Mr. Shakur was murdered.

Now, a man named Dexter Isaac says he was responsible for the 1994 shooting and robbery that, for some time, Sean (P Diddy) Colmes was said to have been responsible for. Isaac also offered that he was paid $2,500 to go after Tupac Shakur.

Think about that.

A man was paid less money that some people make in a month to kill Tupac Shakur. Mr. Isaac must be a sad sack to even think of doing that - messing up his life and Mr. Shakur's for a measly $2,500.

That's just plain nuts, but also shows you how screwed up our culture can be.

Meanwhile, Tupac lives on with us in his way.

Barbara Parker Appointed Oakland's Acting City Attorney For John Russo

Well, with former Oakland City Attorney and Alameda County City Manager John Russo's blessing, Barbara Parker, who Russo mentioned in my video interview with him as one of his lieutenants who "handles the (Oakland City) council's agenda," now has the title of "Acting City Attorney."

Here's the press release from the City of Oakland:

OAKLAND, CA - Chief Assistant City Attorney Barbara J. Parker, a longtime Oakland resident and second in command of the City Attorney's Office, will take over as Acting City Attorney effective 11:30 a.m. today.

In a letter sent Friday to the Mayor and City Council, outgoing City Attorney John Russo wrote that Parker will serve as Acting City Attorney "to assure a seamless transition with an experienced, eminently qualified attorney in charge of the Office until the Council makes its appointment decision." The City Council passed a resolution declaring the Office of City Attorney vacant as of June 13.

"With the number of complex, difficult legal issues facing the City on a daily basis, now is not the time for training wheels," said Oakland City Council President Larry Reid. "Barbara Parker is exceedingly qualified in providing objective, reasoned legal advice. I am very comfortable with Barbara taking on this responsibility until the City Council takes further action."

The Oakland City Charter provides that the Council shall make an appointment within 60 days of the June 13 vacancy to fill the balance of Russo's term, which runs until the end of 2012. If the Council does not make an appointment, it must fill the seat by special election within 120 days after the expiration of the 60 - day period for appointment.

"It is important that a seamless transition occur in the City Attorney's Office," said Sally Elkington, President - Elect of the Alameda County Bar Association. "A city of Oakland's size and complexity requires a clear authority to advocate for the City's and the Oakland community's interests. Barbara Parker is a strong supporter of the values Oakland residents hold dear - racial equality, marriage rights for all, a woman's right to choose, living wages, equal access to city services, and open government and transparency, to mention only a few."

Parker has 20 years of experience at the Oakland City Attorney's Office, including more than 10 years as second in command. She is a 1975 Harvard Law School graduate and previously served for more than five years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. She is a lifelong advocate for civil rights, women's empowerment and children's issues. As the Chief Assistant City Attorney, Parker has represented the City Attorney’s Office at virtually all City Council meetings for the past decade. Her responsibilities included overseeing a staff of about 20 attorneys and directing all legal advice provided to the Mayor’s Office, City Council, City Administrator and all other City Boards, Commissions and Departments.

"I have the utmost confidence in Barbara Parker's ability to discharge the City Attorney's duties under the Charter," Russo said Friday. "She is principled, innovative and one of the brightest legal minds I have had the privilege of working with. The City Council, the City of Oakland and the entire community will be well served through her leadership."

Parker has led and supported efforts on a range of important social justice issues including: conducting sexual harassment investigations and training, Oakland's groundbreaking anti - predatory lending ordinance, efforts to decriminalize medicinal marijuana, enforcement and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Oakland's "Bubble Ordinance" ensuring patient access to reproductive health clinics.

"I welcome this opportunity to continue to serve the City and residents of Oakland in this time of transition," Parker said. "Oakland has been a national trail - blazer in using the law in innovative ways to make our communities safer, to eradicate blight, to provide medicine for people suffering from illness or injury and to fight for equal access and citizens' rights."

"During these challenging economic times, I am committed to continuing to work closely with the City Council and to bringing people together to represent the best interests of the Oakland community in a transparent, accessible manner," Parker said. "Teamwork and effective problem-solving are critically important at this time."

On a personal note, I've known Barbara Parker going back to my time as Economic Adviser to then-Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris from 1995 to 1999. Ms. Parker has always been a thoughtful, intelligent, and caring representative of the office of the Oakland City Attorney. She will do well.

The real question is who will run for Oakland City Attorney in 2012? I don't think Barbara has ever picture herself as a politician.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Police Search For Alleged Cell Phone Rapist

The person in this video above reportedly broke into a 28-year old woman's home in Oakland, and was allegedly in the process of stealing a box of "electronics" when she caught him via cellphone camera.

Here's the full video:



He's described as "a black man in his early 40s, five feet nine, 160 pounds, with a bald head," but as you can tell he's more light-skinned black or a person of color, who may be black or Latino.

According to reports, the woman didn't scream or call 911. And after the man left her home at her request, then he reportedly returned and sexually assaulted her. She was sent to the hospital for treatment, then released.

What I can't help asking is why didn't she call, or try to call, the police when the dude left the house the first time? Also, in the video she sounds rather calm for someone who was supposedly taken by surprise by the man. She says "can you please leave. How did you get in here?" in a calm voice. Maybe it's nothing. But why not say "Put my crap down, ass hole!"

But I'm wondering if he's someone she actually knows, which doesn't make the situation any better, and worse for her. Why, of all things to nab, would he take a box of electronics? What? A TV set? A radio?

Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.


Stay tuned.

AC Transit's Joel Young In Sex Scandal; Sandre Swanson Can Relax

UPDATE: Joel Young Issues Must Read Statement - Click Here.


According to Indy Bay, which is all over this story, AC Transit Board Of Director's member Joel Young, who had a promising political career and filed to run for the California State Assembly (District 16) against the incumbent Sandre Swanson in 2012, is seeing it go off the rails in a sex scandal. 

Young is accused of domestic violence by his ex-girlfriend, who was granted a restraining order against him, that was filed on March 16th, 2011 and became active April 5th. A hearing on the domestic violence complaint is set for August.

Reportedly, Young's ex-girlfriend found him in bed with another woman in March. The woman confronted Mr. Young, who allegedly attacked her, and she was hospitalized. Later, she called the police to file a report, but it's not clear from Indy Bay that an arrest was made.

Meanwhile, Young filed his own restraining order against his ex-girlfriend on April 14th, and said that it was she who attacked him.

What a mess.

What's missing from this is just how did Young's reportedly ex-girlfriend find him in bed with another woman?  Did she have a key to his home?   How did she know to walk in?   Something's missing here.

Joel Young was appointed to the AC Transit Board of Directors in 2009, then re-elected in November 2010.

Can Young survive this?  My prediction is yes, but he can forget about mounting a challenge to the legendary Sandre Swanson.  Who, but a few friends, will give campaign money to the political new-comer Young after this episode?  

Young's best outcome would be to have the charges dropped, and his girlfriends link arm-and-arms with him, and while something tells me that's not in the cards, this also is a weird year for men and political sex scandals.

See Indy Bay for the court documents.

UPDATE: Swanson's approaching his final year (2012) of three terms, as he was elected in 2006. So he's termed out. But even with a wide-open field, Young's sex scandal doesn't help as of this writing.


Stay tuned.

Oakland, Meet Lloyd, Crossing Guard At Grand And Mac Arthur Blvd

If you are on Grand Avenue and Mac Arthur in Oakland, California, during the rush hour and school mornings and afternoons, you've seen Lloyd. For 13 years, the man, 76 years old and turning 77 July 10th, served as the official crossing guard for that corner for 13 years.

Over that time, Lloyd has always worn a big smile and had a greeting for everyone, without fail. He says that by smiling he makes others happy in a kind of "pay-it forward" way.

As to what's changed about Oakland from his vantage point, Lloyd gave me a surprising answer: that everyone's in a hurry, "Nobody got time for nothing. People just rush by."

So, let's pay it forward, and back to Lloyd - give him not just a smile, but a greeting. Stop and talk to him for a spell. It's a great way to pay back someone' who's given so much to so many with his time on that busy corner of Oakland.

Oakland Restaurants - Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe Visit In Uptown Oakland

The new Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe finishes a buildout of the front store spaces of The Fox Theater in Oakland, and is enjoying its first week of operation, this week.

The deal to get Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe at the Fox Theater started just over two years ago, and while it was delayed in fits and starts of deal-making, the end result was well worth the wait.

This blogger walked in on just plain impulse and, possessing a craving for breakfast at night, changed mind and ordered the Monday Blue Plate Special: The Meatloaf. A full, hearty meal of the kind not seen during the whole California Cuisine craze (which I'm somewhat happy has been altered to encourage larger portions), the meatloaf was almost as good as my Mom's at home, and overall I'd give it a B.

The atmosphere at Rudy's was incredible. Bright and airy, it's a great place to hang out and talk or people watch over a great meal.

The added plus is a kind of dining car in the rear of the place that, as I'm told, can be reserved in advance.

Rudy's, at 18th and Telegraph Avenue in Downtown Oakland and open from 7 PM to 1 AM each night, is a great addition to the growing Uptown scene. But I still think a baseball stadium would have been much better at the condo location than what's there now.

Check it out.

Code For Oakland App Competition: Redirectory Wins!

In this tech news, the first annual (hopefully) Code For Oakland hackathon is history. The event drew 102 people, complete with Oakland and San Francisco geeks, and notable non-geeks like AC Transit Board Member and long-time Oakland Piedmont Avenue Activist Chris Peeples, resulted in a number of fascinating and promising applications, all designed with the needs of Oakland's low-income residents and those who aren't well "connected" in mind.


The Saturday, June 4th meetup at Kaiser Center was sparked via the efforts of Oakland Local Founder and Editor Susan Mernitt, and "about 20 people," as Susan explained in the video, who contributed to getting Code For Oakland off the ground.


What's Code For Oakland?


Code For Oakland's mission was simply to have a "one day workshop to build an awesome mobile app." As one of the judges involved in the selection of the winning teams, I can share the criteria we were given to work under, and which were adopted from the Knight Foundation's "Apps For Communities" competition:

1. Make local public information more personalized, useable, and accessible for all.

2. Promote broadband adoption, particularly among Americans who are least likely to be regular Internet users (including low-income, rural, seniors, people with disabilties, and the low-digital, English literacy communities.)

3. Create better links between Americans and services provided by local, State, Tribal, and Federal Governments.

There were a number of interesting and fascinating apps created. Here's the winner's list below, from the Code For Oakland website:

$1500 Ramsell prize:Txt2work, mobile app to allow re-entering prisoners and parolees to search and apply for jobs via their feature phone. Team led by Elise Ackerman and David Chiu.



$500 Ramsell prize for youth,: Betta Stop, mobile app to allow tagging and commenting on quality of bus rides and schedule in Oakland. Team led by Krys Freeman.



$1000 Mozilla prize: Redirectory, platform for allowing mobile feature phone, web and smart phone access to local social services data, focus particularly on parolee and reentry data. Team led by Randall Leeds.



$1000 Pandora prize: OakWatch, mobile/web project to allow real time neighborhood reporting via mobile systems. Team lead by Robbie Trencheny.



$500 Urban Strategies Council–for work with Re-entry Data API prize: Redirectory, platform for allowing mobile feature phone, web and smart phone access to local social services data, focus particularly on parolee and reentry data. Team led by Randall Leeds.



$500 City of Oakland, for work with Oakland files prize: OaklandPM, schema to use social sharing and city & OUSD calendar information to build a mobile tool to let teens find out what after-school activities are available and which friends are going. Team led by Jed Parsons.



$250 Full Court Communications prize: Contxt, mobile service focuses on SMS text messaging: broadcast messaging to community organizers. Team led by Tim Sheiner.



$250 Full Court Communications prize: Oakland Food Finder, mobile/web service for allowing Oakland low-income shoppers (and others) to find out where healthy foods are available in their area and for food supplies (farmers markets, etc.) to broadcast what they have available. Team led by Michael Bernstein.



Addtionally, an in-kind prize from Citizen Space for three months of workspace was provided as a gift for the winners to share.

In the next blog post on Code For Oakland, we'll take a closer look at the winning apps. Meanwhile, Oakland should thank Susan Mernitt and her team.

T-Mobile Samsung Loss Leads To Bad Oakland Service

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The loss of my T-Mobile Samgung Galaxy Variant in a taxi cab has led to bad service encounters at T-Mobile's Oakland, California store at 3201 Lakeshore Avenue.

The obvious point aside, which is specifically to watch what pocket you place your phone in, that's no reason this blogger should get the minimum level of service at a T-Mobile story.

Three visits to the T-Mobile Oakland Lakeshore store this week have resulted in being told that the store did not have a hotspot-capable (even with a file download) 3G phone, when I knew damn well it did.

And who told me that? A T-Mobile sales person by the name of Grace.

And that was just the highlight of a period of bad treatment. 

Grace simply did not want to help me. She basically told me that the 4G phone I wanted to buy was $500, but in a way that implied I could not afford it because I didn't want to pay that amount all at once. Then, she failed to even try to call T-Mobile and arrange for a discounted upgrade for me, saying that I was two months before my upgrade period.

That's not a big deal; T-Mobile has actually waved that in the past, when a sales person bothered to call them.  

But the kicker for me was Grace's statement that I could not get a 3G phone with a hotspot so I could access the Internet. That bad information, for which I asked Grace if she was sure of what she was saying twice, caused the T-Mobile customer service person I talked to, to say "That's just wrong. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

See, the last time I was in a similar situation to today was last fall, in October, and a different crew worked at the T-Mobile Oakland, Lakeshore store. A much more helpful one. So much so that I made this video to talk about the G2 Phone versus the Samsung Variant Galaxy, using the live-stream video upload system called Qik.com, which sends a copy of the video to my YouTube channel:



No such luck getting a sales person who was that helpful this week, and Grace was a disgrace at the job. It's not that she wasn't nice, she was but superficially so; she did not take any initiative at all, seemed eager to do at little work as possible, and was happy when I left.

The fellow in the video did take the initiative. He called customer service himself and arranged a discounted upgrade for me.

And he worked at the same T-Mobile Oakland store location.

T-Mobile should not allow this imbalance in service to continue.

Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, Dogwood Bar, Mark Uptown Oakland

Last night this vlogger trekked down over to the Uptown District in Oakland to just check out how the scene was changing. The result? The video you see above.

It started with a walk over to the Fox Theater, with a look at how the much-anticipated Oakland version of Emeryville's Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe was coming along. As it turns out the owners were hosting what California Capital Group's Mark McClure called a "soft launch," but considering the tweets we've exchanged, like this one...

@RudyCantFailCaf Rudy'sCan'tFailCafe
@zennie62 not quite yet...a couple more weeks...we'll keep you posted! Check out the RCFC-Oakland FB page for the deets!!!

You figure they'd have invited me to the damn thing, right?

Oh well.

Maybe they will have this kid dancing at the opening:



But that aside, the Oakland Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe, which occupies a space that was once an adult book store, officially opens this coming Monday from 7 PM to 1 AM, and just as I'm leaving town. Reportedly you will be able to eat late every night there, which is good news for Oakland's growing list of Uptown bars, like Dogwood.

According to Lexy, the owner of the three-month old establishment at the corner of Telegraph and 17th Street, a late night eatery was the missing link connecting all of the establishments. "It's much needed," she said.

She's right. With The Fox Theater, Cafe Van Kleef, The Den At The Fox, The Uptown, and other bars, the only food place to this writing was Flora, and that closes at 10 PM. Meanwhile, what's a patron who just groved to a band supposed to do for late night food? Well, the on-street cart serving the hog dogs was one answer, and there's a small closet-sixed eatery that was open just a few doors down from Cafe Van Kleef, but that was it.

Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe will change all that.  But the bet here is you're going to have to compete with the other bartenders for a seat at the place.

Stay tuned. 

John Russo On Oakland A's, Raiders, "Donated Alameda Politicians" Issue

On May 17th, this blogger interviewed now former Oakland City Attorney John Russo on video, as you can see. There have been three blog post written in this space, referring to that 38-minute interview.

But even with that, comes the usual San Francisco Bay Area journalist that has to tell you they got an "exclusive" with Mr. Russo, and after the interview. Enter the website Oakland North this week.

So, the initial plan was to run this new blog post next week, but considering Oakland North's hubris or error in claiming they had an "exclusive" interview, I figured "Why not today," so here it is.

John Russo Recaps Sports In Oakland

When John Russo gave his video interview for this blogger, he talked about how proud he was that he settled a number of legal issues with Oakland's sports teams, the Oakland A's, Golden State Warriors, and the Oakland Raiders. But, as John leaves for Alameda to become its new city manager, he says there are new issues.

"We've talked before about the (Oakland) A's. The A's still want to go away (leave Oakland), the economy is not cooperating with their plans. Nobody knows where Major League Baseball is (after the creation of the "blue ribbon" commission that was to evaluate Oakland as a home for a baseball team). They..I don't know maybe the Blue Ribbon Commission.. I just don't know.

John continued "Maybe the Blue Ribbon Commission came up with the wrong answer? I don't know. All we can do is speculate. Maybe the Blue Ribbon Commission didn't give the right answer?" I pressed John on this, because over the years of knowing him, I can generally tell when he's hiding part of what he knows, but he insists otherwise, saying "I truly just don't know (what happened to the MLB Blue Ribbon Commission or what Major League Baseball plans to do with the Oakland A's).

The "right answer" would have been for the MLB Commission to say that the Oakland A's would be better off in San Jose than in Oakland, but that view has not been expressed via the much-anticipated report.

And while other reports last fall have now-former City Administrator Dan Lindheim as stating that the commission looked at the fiscal health of Oakland's Redevelopment Agency and at its plans for a baseball stadium at Victory Court were sound, MLB has not released a final report. So, Russo is correct, it seems, that MLB did not find Oakland to be the bad baseball bet they probably assumed it was.

On the Oakland Raiders, "they say they want a new ballpark - a new stadium. It's understandable. They also seem to understand there's no appetite for public finance. And, uh, I think the Raiders are trying very hard" to come up with solutions that are workable in getting the new stadium they desire and need given changes in the industry that have left the Coliseum a relic - again. (I will explain in another post.)

"The Raiders are a different deal than the A's," Russo said. "The A's, I've felt, for a long time just did not want to cultivate their fan base here, because they wanted to prove a point 'We don't have a fan base here in Oakland, so we're not going to cultivate a fan base that had over 2 million people come here in 1981."

I personally think the A's don't get how their brand can fit with Oakland, and said so, but Russo actually does like their commercials and approach, and so had nothing negative to say on that more detailed issue of marketing, which is related to the overall picture of "not cultivating the Oakland fan base."

His issues with the Oakland A's were "tarpping up the upper deck to create (ticket) scarcity," which means no walkup ticket purchases for games, the constant changes in radio stations, making it harder for fans to find the games, and the rapid roster changes that "make it harder for fans to get to know the players."

Russo says he's never talked to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, and he's never been part of the City of Oakland team that's worked on the Oakland A's project.

On NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's statement that he wants the Oakland Raiders to team up and build a stadium in the Bay Area, Russo says he's never talked to Goodell, doesn't think the Niners will get their stadium deal done in Santa Clara, and isn't sure "the teams want to share. You have to want to share a stadium" to get such a deal done.

John says that because the NFL doesn't have baseball's anti-trust exemption, Goodell could not force the Raiders and The Niners to team up, even if he wanted to.

Here, a digression is in order.

If the NFL had such legal power, it could move teams around as it wished, or prevent a team from moving. But the idea that the NFL could do that was effectively killed in court by Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders in 1982.

The point was that the NFL doesn't have monopoly power, thus a team trying to move from one city to another should be allowed in the spirit of business competition, and the NFL Bylaws that then prohibited such actions were said to be illegal after the Raiders challenged the NFL. The Silver and Black won the right to move to Los Angeles from Oakland in 1982, only to return to Oakland in 1995.

I skipped over the Golden State Warriors, which Russo later said he had "no comment on" and mainly because the long-standing litigation between the City of Oakland and the NBA Oakland team had been discussed in closed session, to come to ask how the Oakland Coliseum Joint Powers Authority could sign a cheap $7 million naming rights agreement with Overstock.com, while at the same time being sued by the County of Alameda.

Russo said that was a JPA issue that didn't come across his desk, but that the JPA itself, with a board of eight members, thus insuring the chance of deadlock on votes, should but restructured to have some kind of "tie-breaking method."

On Alameda, The City Of, and Russo

We finally shifted gears to talk about his new occupational home, Alameda. On the question of what's first on his agenda, Russo blew and his eyes widened by a factor of two before he answered the question. "Well, there's number of things that need to be done in Alameda. Firs there are a number of people in interim positions in Alameda, so the team needs to be made permanent."

Russo says that he will be the seventh city manager in six years, and Alameda has an interim fire chief, interim police chief, and a "vacancy at economic development," as well as an interim city attorney, so Russo's job is to make a city executive team that's permanent. But if you think about it from another perspective, it's a great opportunity for John to populate the City of Alameda with the kind of public executives he thinks can't help him get the job done there over his five-year contract, and "bring stability."

Second, Russo says that the City of Alameda will work to secure the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory expansion, and says there is public support for the effort to place them at Alameda Point, for which Alameda is "short listed." He says that Alameda will work to get it, "like no other city in The Bay Area."

"I don't think it's an accident that the reuse of bases has been held up. There must be structural impediments," Russo said. He wants to "re-engage the Federal Government" to determine how best to speed up the base reuse process because it "shouldn't take 25 to 30 years to get the bases back into reuse."

Changing The City Of Alameda

"The City of Alameda needs to adopt these three words: accountability, responsiveness, and transparency. By those I mean if you look at Alameda's budget and you look at performance measures that are adopted for each department, they are in significant number input based, not output based. What I mean by that is, they'll say 'Your job is to make sure you've gone to 12 League Of City Meetings each year' if your the intergovernmental person there - who cares? Your job should be how many millions in grants have you gotten for the City." Russo says that his job will be to install a more output-based, results-oriented, performance evaluation system for the City of Alameda, as a starting point over the next year.

On "responsiveness," Russo says that too many Alamedans write or email city hall and never get a response from it "That will change," he says.

Regarding "transparency," Russo says that Alameda's tag as the least transparent city in the Bay Area will change. By September, the City will put out its city council agenda two weeks ahead of schedule, so that "everybody can see what their government will be voting on."

Russo will also stress public comment on what Alameda is "doing on their behalf." Overall the changes he will install are really basic to the operation of a good urban municipal government.

John says that, at 700 people, Alameda's not too big for him to manage and get to know. He's always wanted to be the chief exective of a city, and was looking for a city that had significant problems but also had significant opportunities."

On The Idea That Russo Donations Got Him The Job

We turned to the charge that John's donations to several Alameda City Council members essentially got him the job as City Manager. I was particularly eager to talk about this on camera, because the East Bay news organization that raised the issue has a bad habit of not contacting the people it writes negatively about while in the process of creating a story.

When I asked, directly, about the claim, John laughed in that funny "hehehe" he gives when he thinks something's stupid, and said "I love that. I also wanted to go to El Cerrito, Richmond, San Francisco, Piedmont, Emeryville, and every other city where I've given money to candidates. It's just silly. People say some really foolish things in politics."

Russo continued "I gave Marie Gilmore I think a thousand dollars for her mayoral campaign. I think I gave three thousand or thirty-five hundred dollars (to her) in 2004, when she ran for council. So does that mean I like her a third as much? I gave money to Lena Tam when she ran for hospital board in 2004. Understand something. As (Oakland) City Attorney, I gave a strong position that I should not give money to local (Oakland political) candidates."

And because Russo, as Oakland City Attorney, was essentially an Oakland department head. So what Russo did was to spread that money around the Bay Area, helping people he liked and had good relationships with over the years. But by not giving money in Oakland, Russo says that decision has hurt him politically.

He said the idea that he bought his way into Alameda is "ignorant of how the World works" -  the "job for donations" charge by the news organization that is the East Bay Express. Moreover, Russo says that it was presented as an isolated incident, rather than looking at the range of donations he's made over the years, and to people who are his associates and friends and represent Alameda.

But the biggest kicker is that no one at the East Bay Express bothered to call John, and yet the publication went with running the story under the guise of journalism. Next thing you know, because it's in print, the Bay Area pseudo-intelligencia that follows that publication quote it without investigation, and so it unfairlty tarnishes Russo's image.

This is no the first time the East Bay Express has done this, and it's really a sad practice. It happened during the 2010 Oakland Mayor's Race, when the target was mayoral candidate Marcie Hodge, who was first said to be a plant of Don Perata, getting money from him, and then that her whole candidacy was illegal. Marcie says she was never contacted about those claims before the stories ran, and eventually went to court to sue the East Bay Express.

I want to think the best about the East Bay Express and myself have a long history with them as both author and subject that's worth a series of blog posts, so this is not personal. They have a long standing history in Bay Area media and are a valuable resource. But the EBX must make sure that it's not using the paper to take out personal agendas against people. I'm not saying that it it, but many people around town think it looks that way.

But I digress.

Stay tuned. One more topic to come, on SunCal.