Now Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf And Mom With Zennie Abraham In Photo From 1998 Christmas Party ONN – Now Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf And Mom With Zennie Abraham In Photo From 1998 Christmas Party – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube Now Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf And Mom With Zennie Abraham In Photo From 1998 Christmas Party … Read more
The baseball great and his development partner wants to team with a tribal lands developer for the light-on-specifics proposal focusing tribal casino and hotel development on the Coliseum land. Livestream above at 4:20 PM EST December 26th 2020. A source who wished to remain anonymous sent to this vlogger a seven-page copy of a document … Read more
Oakland Progressives Party – 12/2 @ 5-6:30 From YouTube Channel: December 3, 2020 at 10:01AM ONN – Oakland Progressives Party YouTube Fundraiser Celebrating Oakland Rising’s Jessamyn Sabbag This YouTube video comes from the new YouTube Channel for the Oakland Progressives Party. It features a fundraiser that was held on December 2nd from 5 PM to … Read more
City of Oakland Says Anyone, Including You, Can Submit A Coliseum Land Stadium Development Plan ONN – City of Oakland Says Anyone, Including You, Can Submit A Coliseum Land Stadium Development Plan – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube City of Oakland Says Anyone, Including You, Can Submit A Coliseum Land Stadium Development Plan The latest bit … Read more
Oakland Sought Proposals From White Developers To Compete Against Black NFL Group For Coliseum ONN – Oakland Sought Proposals From White Developers To Compete Against Black NFL Group For Coliseum – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube City Of Oakland Sought Proposals From White Developers To Compete Against Black NFL Group For Coliseum Former Oakland Raiders / … Read more
Oakland, FAD – Good Friday to you. Once again, and thanks to the County of Alameda’s Registrar of Voters, Zennie62Media has a table for each rank-choice-voting election in the races for Oakland City Council. Now, the Alameda Registrar of Voters has sent all of the new updates for this election. Here they are, this time … Read more
Here Are The Full Oakland California, Berkeley, California Election Results For The 2020 Election, Including Measures, And Results For Piedmont And San Leandro Who will win the 2020 Election for Oakland City Council? Will Lynette Gibson-McElhaney retain her District Three Seat, or will Moms 4 Housing leader Carroll Fife emerge with 51 percent of the … Read more
ONN – Oakland City Council’s Weird Agenda: Oakland A’s Coliseum Closed Session Thursday Is Black NFL Group – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube
Oakland City Council’s Weird Agenda: Oakland A’s Coliseum Closed Session Thursday Really Black NFL Group
The Thursday October 29th, 2020 Special Oakland City Council Closed Session Meeting is worded as if the attendees would be representatives of the Oakland A’s. But the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) headed by Ray Bobbitt was under the impression the meeting was supposed to be a first-introduction of their proposal and a progress report to the Oakland City Council.
So, the naming of the meeting is a head-scratcher to the group – and to this vlogger.
According to one person connected with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG), Oakland District 7 Councilmember Larry Reid told them that the title of the meeting was “a place-holder”. That would seem to imply the name would be changed to point to the business of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG). But there’s another complication.
Rick Tripp, a man with a history of trying to get involved in sports economic development in Oakland, and whom I talked about in this livestream, wrote on his Facebook page that…
First response is already in regarding our Oakland stadium redevelopment proposal. For those of you who might be interested, I’m going to be a bit more diligent about posting the progress of the proposal. With that said, a multi-term Councilmember emailed me today that he had passed the proposal on to staff in the Economic Development Dept. That’s it for now. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
On top of that, Tripp explained that he was asked to submit a proposal, but he wrote that he could not say who asked him to do so. On Sunday, Councilmember Reid revealed that it was he who advanced Tripp’s proposal to Oakland’s economic development staff.
But why?
Why is an African American Oakland Councilmember advancing Tripp’s proposal and allowing by appearances others to think, or at least me, that he’s not for the African American Sports and Entertainment Group? Knowing Larry, my spider-sense tells me he’s a bit miffed that African American Sports and Entertainment Group did not include him directly in the group, from the onset. I want to be wrong here. I hope I am. Larry should be concerned about African American economic development first, even beyond matters of protocol.
Oakland has to rid itself of its crabbarrel mentality, especially where it applies to us: to Blacks in Oakland. Too often we’re ready to not support each other economically, and for the most ridiculous reasons. Too often, too many Blacks in Oakland have been all too willing to do anything to discredit someone else who’s black, even if it’s “Oh, he can’t do it” or “She doesn’t have any money”. Why do I think the reasons behind black-on-black crime are the same ones causing the Oakland crabbarrel problem? (And for the record, neither me nor Zennie62Media has either Ray Bobbitt or his group as a client. But, we are all friends, and I once worked for Robert Bobb when he was the Oakland Chief Administrative Officer. Bobb put me in charge of Oakland’s Super Bowl Bid Project. Given no chance to win, Oakland emerged from 11 cities to be one of three finalists for the right to host The 2005 Super Bowl that eventually went to Jacksonville.)
Toward A New Oakland Sports Economic Development Process
The problem is that, absent a process, other competitors like Tripp will step forward and claim they have a proposal – and many of them will be white, if not all of them. So, all of this should go through a task force within the office of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (which technically includes the Oakland Chief Administrative Officer). Oakland has to take a pro-active stance and say that it wants to see the first black NFL ownership group represent Oakland. That can’t happen just by words – it has to happen by legislation, too. (And since this does not involve public contracting, one can’t claim such a focus violates California Proposition 209. Moreover, the group Bobbitt’s formed includes black millionaires and billionaires, so it would stack up to any other team, regardless of color. That said, given the history of racism that’s clouded NFL team ownership and blacks, a coherent process is needed.)
Given that there’s a ton of case law favoring an elected official publicly stating they want a particular developer for a project (and with that rules against “pay to play” relationships) what the City of Oakland should do is draft a new agreement structure that recognizes the Oakland A’s first, and then the African American Sports and Entertainment Group as a subordinate, and then a process where any other interested developer or investor has to send their materials to a designated person at The Oakland Mayor’s Office, who then informs both the A’s and the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, and goes about a process of vetting.
That would help bring clarity to the Oakland Coliseum Stadium and Coliseum City issue, and at the same time, reduce the ambient political noise that’s already audible with Ray Bobbitt’s effort.
Stay tuned.
Note from Zennie62Media’s Zennie62 YouTube and Oakland News Now Today Blog SF Bay Area: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
On Wednesday, Scott McKibben, now the former Executive Director of The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority and currently President Of The Oakland Panthers of The Indoor Football League, accepted a misdemeanor plea-bargain deal in the case where he was accused of violating a government law prohibiting self-dealing. The problem is, the case and the mainstream media reporting, masks a great deal of facts that, in total, show an organizational system beyond the control of McKibben, and where he was asked to be an actor in it, then burned by it.
Scott McKibben was accused of violating California Government Code Section 1090, which prohibits public officials and public employees from “making” public contracts in which they have a financial interest. The fact is, Scott was asked by the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Joint Powers Authority Board to secure a naming-rights marketing agreement with Ring Central. Scott was, contrary to the law, listed contractually as an independent consultant – just like the other marketing consulting firms the Coliseum JPA has hired over its existence, since its creation in 1996.
That Scott asked for, but did not receive, a $50,000 fee from a $4 million deal with Ring Central, should not have raised any eyebrows considering that the Coliseum JPA Board asked him to do the deal, he’s an independent contractor, and the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda at no point at all gave Scott any instructions regarding the law. Indeed, the persons who should have done that are Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker and Alameda County Counsel Donna Ziegler.
Moreover, the other persons who should have done that comprise the same Board of Directors of The Oakland Coliseum JPA, and many of whom are friends of mine, and should not have let Scott take a fall like that, and they know it. Folks like Alameda County Supervisors Scott Haggerty and Nate Miley, Oakland City Councilmembers Larry Reid and Loren Tayor, and JPA Commissioners Yui Hay Lee (famed Oakland architect), Ignacio De La Fuente (himself a former Oakland Councilmember), and Chris Dobbins (everyone’s favorite local lawyer), and Christine Smith, both who are no longer on the JPA Board.
And I add myself to that list, because, in 2019 for the NBA Finals Game 4, Scott gave me a ticket – way up in the damn rafters, but it was a ticket. When he invited me to visit the Coliseum JPA Box, my friend Chris was there, as was Barbara Parker, among others.
“California Government Code Section 1090 (“Section 1090”) – which prohibits public officials and public employees from “making” public contracts in which they have a financial interest – is notoriously vague, broad, and malleable. Section 1090 provides that California’s elected and appointed public officials and public employees may not be “financially interested” in “any contract made by them in their official capacity. California courts have interpreted these terms broadly, making it dangerously easy to violate the statute without even knowing it. Most troublingly, Section 1090 does not require bad intent for a conviction or a fine. A public official, public agency, or employee may violate the statute if they act knowingly – that is, knowing about their financial interest and knowing what they are doing in connection with the contract – even if they don’t realize that their conduct is prohibited. In fact, because of that low general intent requirement, California courts have rejected the defense of “advice of counsel” or that they obtained prior approval from an attorney. In other words, a California official or employee might violate Section 1090 even if the public entity they work for, and its attorneys, told them that their conduct was lawful and not a violation of Section1090.
And in Scott McKibben’s case, no one told him about Section 1090 to start with. For Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley to seek to charge McKibben for a felony makes me wonder if her office was aware of how poorly the law was written and just decided to go ahead and go after Scott, anyway? And why? Well, to answer that question, read on.
The Warriors Playoffs And Coliseum Sports Ticket Distribution Scandal That Should Not Be, But Is
And in addition, the JPA Board was served by the Oakland Chief Administrator’s Office, and I attended a meeting where then Oakland Chief Administrator Sabrina Landreath served as the secretary for the meeting. But did you know Sabrina Landreath scored a Warriors playoff ticket valued at $5,000 in 2016? And did you know Yui Hay Lee was signed up for and received $35,000 in Warriors playoff tickets? And before you say Scott McKibben signed off on them, I instruct you to look online at the many Form 802 filings going back to 2016, because Councilmember Reid, and Yui Hay Lee signed off on some of them, too. http://oraclearena.s3.amazonaws.com/doc/OACCA-Form-802-May-2016-5576c104a9.pdf
Yui Hay Lee Warriors 2016
And did you know Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker scored $840 worth of Oakland A’s tickets in 2016, as did my friend Coliseum JPA Commissioner Chris Dobbins? (And this is something Barbara Parker herself admits too, so there, but its wrong for some news media to blast Oakland Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney for the same perk that Barb Parker herself obviously enjoyed. Moreover, its wrong for Reid and Parker to make Scott McKibben look bad, when they could have defended him, and put him in the bad position to start with.)
Barbara Parker got $9,250 worth of Golden State Warriors regular season tickets for free, March 2016.
Barbara Parker Gsw Tickets
And I happened to randomly find that information about Yui Hay Lee in opening the link to the Form 802 page. I wasn’t going on a witch hunt against Yui Hay Lee (even though he did use part of my Oakland City Hall Plaza Design Concept I made at Skyline High School in 1979 for the actual plaza). I’m only demonstrating that the truth is the entire Coliseum JPA culture, and that of the City of Oakland and The County of Alameda, is to blame for what the Alameda County Coliseum District Attorney accused Scott of doing with respect to Ring Central. You can see all of the ticket request reports here: https://www.theoaklandarena.com/about-us/coliseum-authority/public-information
Now, I have long argued that the law should allow for public officials who run a giant sports complex should, to enjoy some small benefit of doing so, like occasionally scoring tickets to events – just don’t sell them. Look, how the heck is any official to see how their facility is managing a large sports event it that person can’t even attend the event? Logical, right?
Anyway, here’s a newsflash: doing that – getting sought-after-tickets – failed to become an big issue for years – or until The Golden State Warriors got real good at NBA Basketball. Prior to that, the Oakland Coliseum had not enjoyed a team that won so much, tickets to their playoff games were valued over gold.
Then, when Golden State became the daring of the NBA, those who did not score Warriors playoffs tickets and were somebodies, were railing over those who did – particularly public officials. Moreover, the public officials were getting seats so good that Alameda County Administrator Susan Muranishi wound up on national television during the 2016 NBA Finals.
And she too had an appetite for $8,650 worth of regular season Warriors tickets, all in March of 2016…
Susan Muranishi Gsw Tickets
Then, while the Oakland Public Ethics Commission was formed in 1996, it did not became the new cultural tool for use against elected officials that the folks in control of it did not want to protect, until the last seven years. So, rather than defend themselves and explain the rationale for having tickets, the officials who were enjoying that ability to get tickets went into hiding.
And then had no problem trying to remove the one person they went to for tickets: Scott McKibben. Think about that. Rather than help their “ticket friend”, if you will, they stabbed him in the back, in my humble opinion.
The trouble with the mainstream media is its institutionally racist and when its not that, it’s myopic. One news organization was all too willing to try and take down Scott because some of its editors remember him from when he ran ANG Newspapers and they worked for him in the early 2000s. So, for them, making Scott look bad was a just reward for low pay they received as journalists, back then. Fact is, they did not tell you that, and it masks the truth I’m telling you. (And why I am a blogger and not a journalist.)
The real truth is that public governance in Oakland and in California has degenerated into a culture where someone is always looking to use poorly written California laws to take down someone else, for whatever reason. It chases away good people like Mr. McKibben, my friend who ran The Rose Bowl, and was the one reason the Oakland Coliseum managed to land rent agreements with the then-Oakland, now Las Vegas Raiders that put the organization in the black after years of red ink. And it covers up the truth: that when something like Warriors playoffs tickets are to be had, the culture will figure out a way for someone to land them, and then blast someone like Scott.
You know the saying that rules are made to be broken? Well, in California, the rules are made to be used against those people who were set up by others to break them. The Coliseum JPA Board of Directors set Scott McKibben up to fail, and is the worst for it.
Scott McKibben Was The Best Sports Business Negotiator In Oakland’s History
In Scott McKibben, the Coliseum JPA lost the best sports negotiator it ever had. And, starting in 1996 when I represented Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris as his Economic Advisor, I have worked with and advised to some extent all of them since 1996: Ezra Rapport, Denna McClain, Mark Kaufmann, Ann Haley, Doug Thornton, Denna McClain again, before Scott McKibben came in (and even though the original first choice was a former elected official who had zero experience in the business of sports).
Moreover, I defend Scott because he bailed out the City of Oakland’s 2005 Super Bowl Bid in May 10th of 2000. I was the head of the Super Bowl XXXIV Bidding Committee and Executive Director of the Oakland-Alameda County Sports Commission, which I formed in 1999.Paul Tagliabue, then The NFL Commissioner, had invited us to give a presentation at NFL Headquarters in New York. After showing up 20 minutes late, then-Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown left our meeting with then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue early, and unexpectedly.
Commissioner Tagliabue, who budgeted two hours of his valuable time for us, was fuming.
Thus, we were left with just Scott McKibben and two other board members from the Oakland-Alameda County Sports Commission to be there, in addition to me, as head of the meeting. At the other side of the room and for the NFL were Tagliabue, Executive Vice President Of Football Operations Roger Goodell, then-NFL Head of Special Events and Mr. Super Bowl Jim Steeg, and then-head of NFL Legal Derrick Haggens, Jennifer Gonsalez, and Sue Robichek. Scott spoke up for the Oakland / East Bay business community and saved our meeting with Paul. A good thing, because Tagliabue was so upset over Jerry Brown’s actions, he threatened to stop the meeting. An action that would have killed our chances to land the Super Bowl Game.
Just 10 days after that meeting, The NFL selected Oakland as one of three finalist cities (the other two Jacksonville and Miami) for the right to host the 2005 Super Bowl. As then-Oakland District One Councilmember Jane Brunner told me later that year “none of us gave you a chance.” Ultimately, we lost to Jacksonville.
On the way to that NFL meeting, I had to create the damn Oakland sports commission from scratch, and because then Oakland City Attorney Jane Williams had stood in Oakland City Administrator Robert Bobb’s way (as did McClain) with roadblocks explaining why Oakland could not even do a bid! On top of that, the Coliseum was managed by SMG and Sally Roach, who, with Deena McClain, famously told Mr. Bobb that a former employee of the Coliseum I was working because he was the architect, had stolen the facility’s drawings. Everyone believed them but me. As I told Bobb then, how can we operate the Coliseum without the drawings? The whole claim just smelled bad to me.
So, I went on my own investigation and found the drawings (which we needed for our NFL Super Bowl Bid) via an engineer with HNTB in Marin County, Ca.. That same person then said “Sally Roach says you can’t have the drawings”! I hit the ceiling, called Robert Bobb, and Sally was removed from running the effort, and Bobb told her to work with me. I wanted her fired.
Point is, Oakland had many stories of people trying to stop other people from making government work for the people, and doing great things (take Phil Tagami, Insight Terminal Solutions, and the whole Oakland Bulk and Oversized Terminal coal issue, for example). Scott McKibben is the latest casualty in this.
Stay tuned.
Post script: The giant list of $139,013.50 worth of sports ticket issued by the Coliseum JPA and that (I was told by a source who does not wish to be named) claimed were approved by the Oakland City Attorney’s Office, but the docs show the Coliseum JPA did as well:
2016-137 events=$139,013.50 + ???
January-0 events
February-3 events=$2,500.00
02/06/2016-Warriors v OKC=$1,100.00
02/09/2016-Warriors v Rockets=$1,100.00
02/14/2016-Charlie Wilson Concert=$75.00 x 4
March-16 events=$13,074.00
03/01/2016-Warriors v Hawks= $700.00
03/03/2016-Warriors v OKC =$1,100.00
03/04/2016-Prince: Piano and a Microphone=$600.00 x 4= $2400.00
03/05/2016-Festival of Laughs Comedy Show=$93.00 x 4= $372.00
03/07/2016-Warriors v Orlando=$600.00
03/09/2016-Warriors v Jazz=$700.00
03/11/2016-Warrior v Portland=$600.00
03/12/2016-Warriors v Phoenix=$600.00
03/13/2016-Bruce Springsteen= $158.00 x 4= $632.00
03/14/2016-Warriors v New Orleans=$800.00
03/16/2016-Warrior v Knicks=$1,100.00
03/23/2016-Warriors v Clippers=$1,300.00
03/25/2016-Warriors v Mavericks=$700.00
03/26/2016-Andre Ward v. Sullivan Barrera=$105.00 x 4= $420.00
03/27/2016-Warriors v 76ers=$350.00
03/29/2016-Warrior v Wizards=$700.00
April-23 events=$20,608.50
04/01/2016-Warriors v Celtics= $700.00
04/02/2016-Oakland A’s= $112.50
04/03/2016-Warriors v Portland=$500.00
04/04/2016-Oakland A’s= $100.00
04/05/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/05/2016-Warriors v T’wolves=$600.00
04/06/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/07/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/07/2016-Warriors v Spurs=$1,200.00
04/10/2016-Carrie Underwood Concert= $134.00 x 4=$536.00
04/11/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/12/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/13/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/13/2016-Warriors v Memphis=$650.00
04/15/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/16/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/16/2016-Warriors v Rockets (Game 1)=$5,000.00
04/17/2016-Oakland A’s= $90.00
04/18/2016-Warriors v Rockets (Game 2) )=$5,000.00
04/23/2016-The Class Reunion Concert= $75.00 x 4= $300.00
04/27/2016-Warriors v Rockets (Game 3) )=$5,000.00
04/29/2016-Oakland A’s= $80.00
04/30/2016-Oakland A’s= $100.00
May-24 events=$37,568.00
05/01/2016-Warriors Playoffs=$5,000.00
05/02/2016-A’s v Seattle= $90.00
05/03/2016-Warriors Playoff)=$5,000.00
05/03/2016-A’s v Seattle= $80.00
05/04/2016-A’s v Seattle= $80.00
05/04/2016-Hill Song United= $32.50 x 4= $130.00
05/07/2016-Rihanna=$157.50 x 4 = $630.00
05/11/2016-Warriors Playoffs=$5,000.00
05/16/2016-Warriors Playoffs=$5,000.00
05/16/2016-A’s v Texas= $80.00
05/17/2016-A’s v Texas= $80.00
05/18/2016-Warriors Playoffs=$5,000.00
05/18/2016-A’s v Texas= $80.00
05/19/2016-A’s v NYY= $90.00
05/19/2016-The Who= $149.50 x 4= $598.00
05/20/2016-A’s v NYY= $100.00
05/21/2016-A’s v NYY= $100.00
05/22/2016-A’s v NYY= $100.00
05/26/2016-Warriors Playoffs=$5,000.00
05/28/2016-A’s v Detroit= $80.00
05/29/2016-A’s v Detroit= $90.00
05/30/2016-Warriors Playoffs=$5,000.00
05/30/2016-A’s v Detroit= $80.00
05/31/2016-A’s v Detroit= $80.00
June-17 events = $41,130.00
06/02/2016-Warriors v Cavaliers=$10,000.00
06/05/2016-Warriors v Cavaliers=$10,000.00
06/08/2016-Warriors Watch Party=$20.00
06/10/2016-Warriors Watch Party=$20.00
06/12/2016-KMEL Summer Jam=$62.50 x 4= $250.00
06/13/2016-A’s v Texas= $80.00
06/13/2016-Warriors v Cavaliers=$10,000.00
06/14/2016- A’s v Texas= $80.00
06/15/2016- A’s v Texas= $80.00
06/16/2016-Warriors Watch Party=$20.00
06/17/2016- A’s v Angels= $90.00
06/19/2016-Warriors v Cavaliers=$10,000.00
06/19/2016- A’s v Angels= $90.00
06/21/2016- A’s v Brewers= $80.00
06/22/2016- A’s v Brewers= $80.00
06/29/2016- A’s v Giants= $120.00
06/30/2016- A’s v Giants= $120.00
July-11 events = $1,080.00
07/01/2016-A’s v Pittsburg= $90.00
07/02/2016-A’s v Pittsburg= $90.00
07/03/2016-A’s v Pittsburg= $80.00
07/09/2016-Louis C.K.= $60.00 x 4+ $240.00
07/15/2016-A’s v Toronto= $80.00
07/17/2016-A’s v Toronto= $90.00
07/18/2016-A’s v Houston= $80.00
07/19/2016-A’s v Houston= $80.00
07/20/2016-A’s v Houston= $80.00
07/21/2016-A’s v Tampa Bay= $80.00
07/23/2016-A’s v Tampa Bay= $90.00
August-11 events = $2,962.00 + ?
08/02/2016-Adele= $274.00 x 4 = $1,096.00
08/03/2016-Dream Team= $156.50 x 4 = $626.00
08/05/2016-A’s v Cubs= $90.00
08/06/2016-Andre Ward v. Alexander Brand= $165.00 x 4 = $660.00
08/07/2016-A’s v Cubs= $90.00
08/08/2016-A’s v Orioles= $80.00
08/11/2016-A’s v Orioles= $80.00
08/14/2016-A’s v Mariners= $80.00
08/22/2016-A’s v Cleveland= $80.00
08/23/2016-A’s v Houston= $80.00
08/27/2016-Raiders v Titans = ?
September-18 events= $2,821.00 + ??
09/01/2016-Raiders v Seahawks=?
09/02/2016-A’s v Boston= $90.00
09/03/2016-A’s v Boston= $90.00
09/04/2016-A��s v Boston= $90.00
09/05/2016-A’s v Angels= $90.00
09/06/2016-A’s v Angels= $80.00
09/07/2016-A’s v Angels= $80.00
09/09/2016-A’s v Seattle= $80.00
09/11/2016-A’s v Seattle= $80.00
09/15/2016-Black Sabbath= $205.00 x 4 = $820.00
09/18/2016-Raiders v Falcons= ?
09/19/2016-A’s v Houston= $80.00
09/20/2016-A’s v Houston= $80.00
09/21/2016-A’s v Houston= $80.00
09/24/2016-A’s v Texans= $90.00
09/24/2016-Sonu Nigam & Atif= $88.00 x 4 = $352.00
09/25/2016-A’s v Texans= $90.00
09/30/2016-Bad Boys Concert= $137.25 x 4 = $549.00
October-10 events= $6,623.00+ ??
10/01/2016-Sia=$149.50 x 4 = $598.00
10/04/2016-Warriors v Clippers= $675.00 x 4 = $268.00
10/07/2017-Dixie Chicks=$89.50 x 4 = $358.00
10/09/2016-Raiders v San Diego= ?
10/10/2016-WWE Raw=$99.75 x 4 = $399.00
10/14/2016-Golden State Music Fest=136.50 x 4 = $546.00
10/16/2016-Raiders v Kansas City=?
10/21/2016-Warriors v Trail Blazers= $675.00 x 4 + $2,700.00
10/25/2016-Warriors v Spurs= $1,350.00
10/26/2016-Disney on Ice= $50.50 x 8 = $404.00
November-0 events
December-4 events= $10,657.00
12/03/2016-Warriors v Suns= $1,000.00 x 4 = $4,000.00
12/18/2016-KMEL Hip Hop Holiday House of Soul= $125.00 x 4 = $500.00
12/24/2016-Raiders v Colts= $275.00 x 4 = $1,357.00
12/30/2016-Warrior v Mavericks= $1,200.00 x 4 = $4,800.00
Here’s the record of who approved what tickets; there are 62 results:
In the 2020 Oakland Elections, Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan is facing a major challenge from friend and perennial campaigner Nancy Sidebotham, and newcomer Derreck Johnson.
Nancy is an incredible member of the Oakland political world, but her main advantage is in pointing out problems, less than offering solutions. I like Derreck Johnson, and his run represents a need for more black male participation in Oakland politics. That said, he has no previous Oakland political experience at all, and no knowledge of municipal governance. As much as his efforts and his errors in business are good teachers for him, and for anyone entering politics, and draw media racism he’s not ready to lead Oakland at this point in time, Moreover, he’s the latest manchurian candidate offered up by my godsister Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. Libby should just work to make friends with Rebecca. I’ve said that before, I’ll say it again.
Anyway, when I think of Rebecca, I think of what I contend is her signature, lasting effort. The one that shows good Oakland City Council work in action: The Broadway Free Transit Shuttle that’s now an Oakland institution.
I also think of the many ideas she’s formed to help Oakland’s budget, as well as the many, many small efforts she has made to ease the lives of Oaklanders. It does not matter if it’s a City Council motion that passes, or co-authoring legislation to get Oakland’s speeding problem under control, the fact is, the total number of legal changes she has made for Oaklanders has not been effectively chronicled. The point is, experience matters.
The Oakland City Council faces the very real prospect of having a membership consisting of no one with over one year of experience. And that’s in the middle of a Pandemic. Rebecca must be re-elected to assure the maintenance of institutional memory, so that current political biases don’t cause a misunderstanding, and there fore a mishandling, of government. How to work with Oakland City Staff is more important than anything. Hiring the right people to represent the councilmember is equally more important than anything. We’re in the dark with Derreck Johnson, and even my friend Nancy Sidebotham – but not with Rebecca Kaplan, the Oakland City Council President.
With all of that, why is Rebecca opposed? Well, I will say that she gained the backing of the Democratic Party, as well as a list of notables the party pointed to: “SEIU Local 1021, the Sierra Club, Block by Block Organizing Network (BBON), Former State Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, California Nurses Association (CNA), Firefighters Local 55, Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, Black Women Organized for Political Action PAC, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), Alameda Labor Council, Alameda County Building Trades Council, Sprinkler Fitters Local 483, Former Mayor Elihu Harris, Vice Mayor Larry Reid, President Pro Tem Dan Kalb, Councilmembers Sheng Thao, Nikki Fortunato-Bas and Noel Gallo, Oakland Port Commissioner Michael Colbruno, Founder of She the People Aimee Allison, Pastor J. Alfred Smith Sr., Reverend Harold Mayberry, California Young Democrats National Committee Representative Igor Tregub, Cat Brooks, and many more endorsing Rebecca Kaplan.”
I add myself to that list, and I am proud to endorse my long time friend. Rebecca and I have three things in common: first, we’re both ostracized to some extent for being ourselves, me as a straight, black, tech-oriented guy with a Jewish last name who “talks white”, she for being butch lesbian and Jewish. Then, we’re both urban planning and economics grad school grads from MIT for her and Berkeley for me, and we both love Oakland.
Oakland News: A letter was passed to me moments ago that outlines the interest of the African American Sports & Entertainment Group in purchasing the Oakland Coliseum site for $92 million. The group consists of Ray Bobbitt, who spearheaded the African American Oakland NFL Expansion effort, which is part of this group’s focus, famed sports agent Bill Duffy, who was also part of the Ronnie Lott Group development team that tried to retain the Raiders in Oakland but lost them to Las Vegas, Oakland developer Alan Dones, former Oakland City Manager and one of my mentors Robert Bobb, and Chicago’s Loop Capital, where a family friend of mine, Darrell Williams, is good friends with former President Barack Obama, and is in the photo below with Loop Capital’s Chief Executive Officer Jim Reynolds.
I also know through a source that Oakland District Seven Councilmember Larry Reid has talked with Ray Bobbitt about this proposal as recently as last Friday. Here’s the letter, below, after the photo.
President Barack Obama and Darrell Williams (right) Of Loop Capital
AFRICAN AMERICAN SPORTS &
ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
ECONOMIC EQUITY THROUGH SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT DEVELOPMENT
1423 Broadway #183, Oakland, CA 94612
October 6, 2020
The Honorable Mayor Libby Schaaf
& Members of the Oakland City Council
City of Oakland, California
One Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
Oakland, CA 94612
Dear Mayor Schaaf and esteemed Oakland City Council Members,
The African American Sports & Entertainment Group (“AASEG”) has been working over the last several months to lay the groundwork for bringing a National Football League (“NFL”) franchise back to Oakland. One of the critical factors in our ability to attract a new NFL franchise is a viable home field location for the team. As well, we recognize the interests of city leadership in the holistic redevelopment of the Coliseum area consistent with the vision articulated by the 2015 Coliseum Area Specific Plan. We also recognize the City of Oakland’s interest in maintaining a home for its Major League Baseball (“MLB”) franchise, the Oakland Athletics. We believe that all these objectives can be achieved and to these ends, we have assembled a Master Development Team well-capable of marshalling the resources and expertise necessary to transform our mutual interests into reality. Our team, described as the “AASEG Team”, is pleased to submit this non-binding, indication of Interest, proposal to purchase the City of Oakland’s interest in the Coliseum property for a total of Ninety Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($92,500,000), payable per the schedule provided in Exhibit A.
The AASEG Team
In addition to the enormous community support for our mutual vision, AASEG has assembled a Master Development Team fully capable of executing the development of the Coliseum property (the “Project”).
Bill Duffy With Yao Ming
▪ BDA Sports Management – Led by respected sports agent Bill Duffy, BDA is one of the world’s top ranked sports agencies focused, specifically on basketball. Bill has agreed to apply his extensive network and decades of experience toward execution of the Project, including assembling some of the leading names in sports and entertainment in support and endorsement of the Project. Bill was one of the architects of the Ronnie Lott/Fortress Capital plan that offered a viable option to build a stadium on the Coliseum site.
▪ Strategic Urban Development Alliance – One of Oakland’s largest African American real estate development firms, SUDA has executed millions of dollars’ worth of projects in the Bay Area. SUDA Chief Executive Officer, Alan Dones, has led development projects both in the United States and Africa. He will provide development consulting to the Project.
▪ The Robert Bobb Group, LLC – With specialty capabilities in economic development, urban planning and community and neighborhood engagement, RBG is an African American owned national consulting firm to both public and private sector clients. Chief Executive Officer Robert Bobb will provide consulting services to the Project.
▪ Loop Capital – The largest African American owned, full services investment banking brokerage, financial advisory and investment management organization, Loop Capital boasts a 23-year history of developing financial solutions for America’s largest public sector institutions and private sector firms. In addition to its global capital markets, Loop Capital is an experienced advisor on Public-Private-Partnership and infrastructure transactions. As well, Loop Capital is part of a team developing a 100+ acre parcel owned by the City of Chicago and the Metropolitan Pier Authority. Finally, Loop Capital’s Chief Executive Officer Jim Reynolds is a partner in JLC Infrastructure, a private asset manager with over $800 million under management targeting investments in various publicly owned assets. Loop Capital is the capital partner for the Project.
Stakeholder Interests
The AASEG Team is well aware of the aspirations of the citizens of Oakland and other stakeholders with respect to the Project and is prepared to engage the City as a partner in the execution of a mutually-agreed upon vision embodied in a Community Benefits Agreement that includes:
• Local hiring with priority on racial equity
• The engagement and inclusion of local and small business contractors
and businesses
• Environmentally friendly landscaping and sustainable, energy efficient
design
• Anti-displacement assistance and housing preservation policies for
residents in the development area
• The inclusion of affordable housing
• Project Labor agreements and labor peace
• Local employment and job access provisions, workforce training,
retention of existing workers, and apprenticeship policies
• Living wages, benefits, and stable employment opportunities
• Environmental mitigation measures
• Open space elements
• Sustainable and healthy development
• Transportation infrastructure and transportation demand management
programs, including transit affordability and accessibility
• Potential impact fee’s (housing, transportation, capital improvements)
• Other community benefits as needed and feasible, to be negotiated
Finally, we are keenly aware of the interests of the Oakland Athletics organization in a second option for a baseball stadium should current objectives not come to fruition. The AASEG team is prepared to maintain development space in the Project toward those ends and looks forward to engaging the A’s to fully understand and address their interests.
The AASEG Team is excited to work with the City of Oakland to develop a definitive agreement for the purchase and Master Developer control of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum complex and is prepared to engage staff and leadership to craft an agreement that reflects the provisions in this indication of Interest. We are eager to begin due diligence activities and formal discussions upon the City of Oakland’s acceptance of this non-binding offer. We believe that this historic undertaking will be a perfect example of the African American community being supported by the larger community in achieving economic equality. We are extremely grateful to be in a position to provide jobs and housing for the citizens of Oakland, and to continue to provide world-class sports and entertainment facilities for the entire East Bay region.
As America wrestles with social change, social justice, and economic justice, Oakland can lead the way in demonstrating what real impact is. As proud Oaklanders, it is a part of our DNA. It is simply who we are, and what we do best. We look forward to helping lead that change in the City of Oakland.
Sincerely,
Ray Bobbitt
African American Sports and Entertainment Group
cc: The Honorable Rebecca Kaplan, Council President
The Honorable Councilmember Dan Kalb, District 1
The Honorable Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas, District 2
The Honorable Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney, District 3
The Honorable Councilmember Sheng Thao, District 4
The Honorable Councilmember Noel Gallo, District 5
The Honorable Councilmember Loren Taylor, District 6
The Honorable Councilmember Larry Reid, District 7
City Administrator Ed Reiskin
AASEG, LLC
BDA Sports
7
The Robert Bobb Group
SUDA, LLC
Loop Capital
Exhibit A
AASEG Team
Oakland Coliseum Property Purchase Proposal
Schedule of Proposed Payments
Schedule of Proposed Payments:
At closing: $10,000,000
At the end of year one: $10,000,000
Year 2: $12,500,000
Year 3: $15,000,000
Year 4: $17,500,000
Year 5: $15,000,000
Year 6: $12,500,000
Again, with respect to the NFL, the same lawsuit that Ray Bobbitt invested $40,000 to start and against the former Oakland Raiders now Las Vegas Raiders and the NFL is not only still active, but restarts October 8th. For the group to have a snow-ball’s chance in hell with the NFL, that lawsuit would have to be dropped.
That said, if the group can gain some kind of joint control with the Oakland A’s, then the prospect of the NFL returning to Oakland becomes that much more realistic. Why? Because they will have control of land to build a new stadium for an NFL expansion team, or an existing organization.
Stay tuned for updates. Here is the letter on file:
This Oakland Public Ethics Commission Complaint comes under the subhead-line of ‘bone-headed reports by fake news folks with racist agendas” and refers to an Oakland Public Ethics Commission Complaint that was filed against a firm called Lane Partners, represented by Andrew Haydel. The matter was before the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, and in it’s agenda for October 5th 2020.
What happened was that Lane Partners was encouraged to make a contribution to the Lynette Gibson-McElhaney Legal Defense Fund, and not by anyone directly connected to Lynette, but by, according to PEC records, my friend (at least I think we’re still friends, but in this town shit gets weird for weird reasons) Greg McConnell, the founder of the Oakland Jobs and Housing Coalition. A 2018 email reported McConnell’s plan to get donations for her 50th Birthday.
And Now This Aside…
Now, if you go an assume that Lynette herself established that plan, then you know less about Oakland politics than you think, and are contributing to the crab-barrel, game-playing that causes Oakland to lose out big on matters like retaining sports teams. Oakland has a major-league loser mentality that has to be addressed. Character assassination is sport in Oakland and I find that it’s a proxy for professional competence. But that aside, there are any number of political players in Oakland and San Francisco wiling to, what we call on the streets, “run a game” on someone. Some of them rest in the media.
Seriously, there are some media-types who live for documents that make black Oakland elected officials look bad, but when the elected official is white, they look the other way. Want evidence? Go back to 2013 and the claims of Oakland City Staff Tampering that were leveled against Oakland Councilmember Larry Reid of District 7 and Desley Brooks of District 6 – claims that, as former Oakland City Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente will tell you, apply to every Oakland City Councilmember in history. But when the white media got involved, they didn’t want to see that, and just saw a chance to paint black elected officials as bad, and so they did.
The trouble with a lot of black folks here in Oakland and in America is they complain about the white media types but are by inaction afraid to counter them, and don’t back black media. And so we get the social climate painting black folks so negatively that the result is George Floyd’s death.
Anyway Back To The Action, I Mean The Oakland PEC Complaint
The Oakland PEC Complaint about Lane Partners reads, in part, this way:
Respondents violated the Oakland Campaign Reform Act by contributing $1,000 to Lynette Gibson-McElhaney Legal Defense Fund in October2018 at a time when they were subject to the City’s ban on contributions from City contractors to candidates, in violation of Oakland Municipal Code section 3.12.140
And here’s the rest:
In June 2019, Commission Staff initiated a pro-active investigation after Andrew Haydel’s lawyer called to report that Haydel, a commercial real-estate investor and principal at Lane Partners LLC, “may have made a contribution” to an Oakland political candidate’s defense fund during a time when he and Lane Partners, a City contractor, was subject to the contractor campaign contribution ban.
Between 2016-2018, Lane Partners was involved with several different development projects with the City of Oakland. One such project was the Eastline project.
PROCEDURAL FACTS:
The Respondent and Staff reached a settlement agreement in February 2020. Staff prepared a Stipulation recommending that the Public Ethics Commission (PEC) impose a penalty of $2,000. In the Matter of Haydel was scheduled on the PEC’s March 2020, Agenda. At the PEC’s March meeting, the Commissioners rejected the recommended penalty of $2,000 and instead informed the Respondent that a $5,000 penalty was a more appropriate penalty based on the facts and experience of the Respondent. The PEC instructed Staff to renegotiate the Stipulation with a penalty of $5,000. Staff reached out to the Respondent who initially agreed to sign a revised Stipulation and pay the increased penalty of $5,000.
As a note, this is way not the first time Lane Partners has made a donation that was viewed as having violated Oakland’s Campaign Reform Act, but the simple fact the PEC caught this means good for the future. I must also report that there have been so many alleged violations of the type that Lane Partners is accused of, that it may be time to revisit the law from the perspective of laws that cause entrapment. Because one can replace Lynette Gibson-McElhaney with the Mayor or any other Oakland City Councilmember, and some idiot with a keyboard (who may be running a smear campaign on behalf of another Oakland City Councilmember) would jump to the conclusion that Libby did something wrong, when she had nothing to do with the action.
Anyway, it goes on to report via documents like this one that Lane Partners acted on the advice of their lawyer, Zack Wasserman (Another long-time friend of mine who now former Oakland City Attorney John Russo used to call “Zack-A-Potatos”). Wasserman is asking for the PEC to consider his error to his client, and also for the standard $5,000 fine to be reduced to $2,000, and Lane Partners would pay it.
And there’s the real story. A true mistake admitted to.
The point of all of this: it’s really important to look before one takes any leap and makes negative assumptions about someone else. Also, some electeds in Oakland should be real careful about passing information they deem negative about someone else. After a time, that crap will back fire. God does not like ugly.
REAL TALK – w/Robert ‘Bob’ Jackson, Host
From YouTube Channel: September 13, 2020 at 02:07PM
ONN – Oakland’s Bishop Bob Jackson Talks With Dr. Geoffrey Watson And Dr. Glenda Newell-Harris
In an effort to gain more online exposure as he runs for the to-be-vacant Oakland City Council seat held by Oakland Councilmember Larry Reid, Bishop Bob Jackson hosts two famous Oaklanders, Dr. Geoffrey Watson and Dr. Glenda Newell-Harris. Topic: THE HEALTH OF OUR COMMUNITY
Stay tuned.
Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of the latest updated version of an experimental Zennie62Media , Inc. mobile media video-blogging system network that was launched June 2018. This is a major part of Zennie62Media , Inc.’s new and innovative approach to the production of news media. What we call “The Third Wave of Media”. The uploaded video is from a vlogger with the Zennie62 on YouTube Partner Channel, then uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective is smartphone-enabled, real-time, on the scene reporting of news, interviews, observations, and happenings anywhere in the World and within seconds and not hours. Now, news is reported with a smartphone: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary. The secondary objective is faster, and very inexpensive media content news production and distribution. We have found there is a disconnect between post length and time to product and revenue generated. With this, the problem is far less, though by no means solved. Zennie62Media is constantly working to improve the system network coding and seeks interested content and media technology partners.
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