Happy 4th of July 2018, and I say another “Happy 4th of July 2018” to Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis, who’s father Al Davis would have turned 89 years old, today. Almost every time I do my Zennie62 on YouTuhe Livestream Show (Sunday – Thursday 9 PM PST), a viewers asks this question: “Would Al … Read more
An Oakland Crocker Highlands poster I will not name placed this YouTube video on Nextdoor, and it’s from the Crocker Highlands neighborhood. Now, Nextdoor has incredible credibility problems because of the habit of the website operators to allow people to post commentary without a gauge or review of the truth of what they’re posting, or … Read more
The Alta Waverly Oakland Apartment Complex Center at 23rd and Valdez and in at what is still weirdly named “Broadway Auto Row” (even though Oakland gave up on car dealers as economic development, long ago), is damned huge. No other way to say it. Alta Waverly Oakland Apartment Complex Center is so freaking huge, it’s … Read more
The two Oakland Public Library groups that help to sustain it are seeking new members, and they specifically want a diverse group of folks. So, if you thought being part of Friends of Oakland Public Library Board or the City of Oakland Library Advisory Commission was something you wanted to do, but believed it was … Read more
Oakland District Three Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney ((510) 238-3266 and [email protected]) and the City of Oakland sent this “Love Life” message for Oaklanders, today, before the Fourth of July 2018. Historically, Fourth of July Independence Day in Oakland brings an increase in gunfire and illegal fireworks as part of celebrations. While some residents look forward … Read more
The Oakland City Council District Two seat held by Abel Guillen has a new challenger: Kenzie Smith. Now, the most likely Oakland voter over 50 might be saying “Who’s Kenzie Smith?”, the one under 50 but older than 40 may react with “The BBQ Becky Guy?”, and someone under 40 in Oakland might say “dude’s … Read more
Think wrongful eviction and illegal evictions are allowed in Oakland? Think again. In the wake of Richmond’s 92-year-old Lela Madison being evicted by Community Funds LLC, even though she claims that she was paying her rent of just over $1,000, and after reports of schemes between realtors and inspectors in The San Francisco Bay Area, … Read more
Sheng Thao lands Oakland Union Local 21 Union endorsement. Sheng Thao, who is currently and as served as the Chief of Staff to Oakland At-Large City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, is running for the Oakland City Council District 4 seat that’s going to be vacated by the retiring Annie Campbell Washington. In this battle, Ms. Thao … Read more
The Oakland City Council’s Community and Economic Development Committee voted to advance an an ordinance to help tenant relocations last Tuesday, June 30 2018, and on to the full City Council for final passage July 10 2018. Under the ordinance proposed by Oakland Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney (District 3) and Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, (At … Read more
On Thursday of this week, Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis personally served barbeque to 700 Las Vegas Stadium construction workers. It was Mr. Davis’ way of thanking them for getting this far in building what (let’s be honest) will be a game-changing facility for the Las Vegas Valley. But, considering Mark Davis and the Raiders … Read more
Libby Schaaf , The Mayor of Oakland elected (no pun intended) to release her annoucement of 2018 Oakland City Council Race endorsementss early. Check the date: June 29th 2018 – the election is November 6, 2018. But, from The Mayor’s perspective, it gives her room to hold events and fundraisers for her choices for Oakland … Read more
Comcast Outage is Oakland? For the most part, yes. Approximately two hours ago to this point in time, Comcast, the giant Internet Service Provider (ISP) and self-described “global telecommunications conglomerate headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” had a service outage that impacted major cities nationwide – including Oakland. Comcast issued this statement via Twitter two hours ago: … Read more
Pamela Harris? Oakland City Council? Who’s Pamela Harris? UPDATE: Pamela Harris Gets Nancy Skinner Endorsement for Oakland City Council District Four Seat. Well, Pamela Harris is one of the nine names of people who have thrown their hat into the ring for the seat that’s to be vacated by the incumbent Oakland City Councilmember Annie … Read more
What to do about Community Funds LLC and Lela Madison? Can a real estate company be fined for evicting an elderly woman, even though she’s just a month behind in paying the rent on her home? That’s the question that must be applied to the situation of Richmond, California’s Lela Madison and Community Funds LLC. … Read more
Natasha Middleton, who is a candidate for the Oakland City Council District 6 seat held by Councilmember Desley Brooks, sent over this announcement that she’s landed the endorsement of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union 104. The Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union 104 is located in San Ramon, California. “Natasha Middleton is the best candidate … Read more
Rebecca Kaplan, the Oakland At-Large Councilmember, would not have taken time to have a neat logo made that reads “Rebecca Kaplan for Mayor of Oakland” if she had no intention of running in the Oakland Mayoral Election for 2018. Originally, and about four weeks ago, Councilmember Kaplan was to have a kind of joint … Read more
Oakland, California has been a “union town” for as far back as I can remember, and I’ve been in Oakland since April 8th of 1974. You can’t build anything in Oakland, or have any hope of getting elected, without the backing and involvement of unions. And over time, even the City of Oakland’s own workers … Read more
Hungry, it seems, to push out poor people of color, (just being honest) The City of Oakland and the Oakland City Council has embarked on a sad pattern of selling public land for the good of a private organization, and not the public. The latest example of this problem involved something called The Derby Parcel, … Read more
Chris Young, who this blogger has known since the 2008 Obama For America campaign, threw his hat into the ring for the nine candidate (so far) 2018 Oakland City Council District 4 Race. His determination, out of the gate, earned him the endorsement of the incumbent District 4 Representative Annie Campbell Washington. UPDATE: Chris Young … Read more
The City of Oakland Rules and Legislation Committee of the Oakland City Council will hear two important items this Thursday, June 29: a resolution urging the Oakland City Administration to continue to work with public labor unions post a Janus decision, and a proposal to tax Transportation Network Company (TNC), such as Uber and Lyft … Read more
On Monday, Judge William Alsup made a ruling that shocked some, but was expected from the perspective of legal scholars. The San Francisco Federal Judge dismissed the climate change lawsuit brought by the City of Oakland and the City and County of San Francisco. Here’s the full text of that decision, below. Zennie62Media Has Entire … Read more
This blogger was personally informed today that The City of Oakland is still working with famed sports lawyer Jim Quinn on the paperwork associated with filing a lawsuit against the Oakland Raiders and the National Football League. A source too close to the matter to mention (and not with or part of any Oakland Raiders … Read more
At this week’s City Council Meeting, which lasted well past midnight, the Oakland City Council and grassroots community advocates accomplished some major milestones. The Council passed the midcycle budget amendments for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, including significant improvements that we advocated for. We made important progress on independent community oversight of the police department, and … Read more
The race for California Assembly District 15 Seat is now down to two people: Jovanka Beckles vs Buffy Wicks, and Beckles comes out of the gate swinging a haymaker. A press release announcing a slew of endorsements, most notably the Mayor of Berkeley Jesse Arreguin. Here’s the full list: Jesse Arreguin, Mayor of Berkeley Vinnie … Read more
Oakland and its Mayor Libby Schaaf took a major step toward construction of a new ballpark. A new baseball stadium for the Oakland A’s with the passage of AB 734 (Bonta) today in the California State Senate Environmental Committee. The legislation, if passed by the full legislature (and that’s a certainty) will streamline the environmental … Read more
I met Buffy Wicks, who’s running for the California Assembly District 15 seat that was occupied by Tony Thurmond, today, at my favorite place to talk politics, Lakeshore Cafe at 3257 Lakeshore in Oakland. Since we’ve been friends for a long time, going back to the historic Obama 2008 campaign days, we had a lot … Read more
In the past months, and going back to April 2017, this blogger has asserted that the Clark County Stadium Tax Rate of .088 of 1 or 88 percent of one percent is not adequate to finance the bond issue of $645 million for the Oakland Raiders Las Vegas NFL / UNLV Stadium. The general consensus … Read more
Oakland – It was a weird chance meeting, tonight. At Oakland City Hall, I just finished interviewing Mark Everton, the President and CEO of Visit Oakland, at the side of the outer entrance landing in front of the Council Chambers at at the Oakland City Council that’s closest to the Mayor’s Office, and was headed … Read more
Wow. The City of Oakland Department of Transportation is just about two years old, and it’s already gaining media – the negative kind and from Oaklanders. The Oakland DOT was started as part of the City of Oakland’s 2015-2017 Budget, and came with lofty goals of providing a kind of center of decisions for public … Read more
This November, residents in Oakland and other California cities and towns will have a chance to alter the market that’s created housing costs so high, the population of homeless people is larger than ever. The California Secretary of State’s office informed county registrars and backers and proponents of the California Affordable Housing Act that Michael … Read more
Jovanka Beckles forgot Buffy Wicks. Jovanka Beckles and her campaign staff were so happy to win the race for second place in the “top two” California Assembly District 15 Primary, they forgot there was a number one, and sent a press release that said, well, they won – save for the little mention of a … Read more
The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority plans to hold a “special meeting” on the proposed extension of the Oakland Raiders lease at the stadium. As to when that would happen, the answer this blogger received is “soon”, and that was from Scott McKibben, the Coliseum JPA Executive Director. That news came after this blogger … Read more
Oakland District Three Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney issued her newsletter for the week, and in it, pointed to the June 19th Oakland City Council Meeting as the first one where the mid-cycle review of the 2017-2019 Biennial Municipal Budget will be held. The 2017-2019 “Biennial Municipal Budget” is another way of referring to the two-year-budget … Read more
UPDATE: Oakland Coliseum JPA to set special meeting date on Oakland Raiders lease. The planned meeting to review the Oakland Coliseum JPA / Oakland Raiders Proposed Lease Extention was cancelled due to a lack of a quorum. As I understand it from one Coliseum JPA board member who did not wish to be quoted, the … Read more
UPDATE: Oakland Coliseum JPA Meeting on Raiders Lease cancelled until July. Raiders remain without an agreement beyond 2018. A cat-and-mouse game and odessey that started last year when the National Football League granted the Oakland Raiders the right to officially relocate to Las Vegas, and after what the organization worked on allegedly behind the collective … Read more
Thanks to a tip from a viewer via Facebook, Matt McDuh, this blogger learned that Henry William Sintay AKA “Jogger Joe” was released from jail in Oakland early this morning. A check of the Alameda County Inmate Database reads that the name “Henry Sintay” is not there, whereas it appeared there after he was … Read more
Given the success of Uber and Lyft ride-share tech companies (or what are called “transportation network companies”) more and more cities, towns, and municipalities have looked for ways to extract tax dollars from them. Now, Oakland is set to consider a way to earn revenue from riders using Uber, Lyft, or any other transportation network … Read more
The Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce is hosting Elizabeth “Betsy” Lake as the speaker guest for its “Economic Development Forum”, tomorrow, June 13th. She is the newly hired “Deputy City Administrator, Major Projects”, but she has a history with the Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal development project in West Oakland. It was Elizabeth “Betsy” Lake … Read more
The 2018 Warriors Parade starts in Downtown Oakland at 11 am, just hours from now. If you’re wondering what to expect, or you own a business and and didn’t get the memo, here’s your chance to catch up. Oakland Distruct Two Councilmember Abel Guillen posted this livestream of Monday’s Oakland City Hall briefing for the … Read more
UPDATE: Zennie Abraham meets, talks to, Henry Sintay, Jogger Joe. UPDATE: Matt Nelson issues statement after arrest of Henry Sintay in Oakland. UPDATE: Henry Sintay, “Jogger Joe” Tossed Oakland Homeless Man’s Clothes In Lake Merritt, Had Help To Rob Matt Nelson The nightmare that was Henry Sintay AKA “Jogger Joe” ended at 1pm pst, … Read more