Oakland — On Monday, December 7, 2020 the Oakland Finance Committee heard the FY 2019-20 Q4 & FY 2020-21 Q1 R&E Report. According to the Report from the Interim Director of Finance, dated November 30, 2020, “FY 20-21 year end expenditures are projected to exceed the budget for a total of $62.29 million deficit, which … Read more
On Monday, Oakland City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan was joined by colleagues Noel Gallo and Sheng Thao, and the trio issued a short press release via her amazing Chief of Staff Kimberly Jones that went like this: OAKLAND, CA (November 23, 2020) — Today, Oakland Councilmembers Rebecca Kaplan, Noel Gallo, and Sheng Thao wrote an open … Read more
Oakland – Rebecca Kaplan has retained her At Large seat on the Oakland City Council after a hard fought race that included $500K in independent expenditures from large corporate interests. Kaplan will be holding a Victory and Hanukkah Fundraiser including her longtime friend Congresswoman Barbara Lee among other Host Committee members. The event will be … Read more
The Oakland City Council calls for State Legislation to Give Affordable Housing Entities Priority to Purchase Residential Homes Up For Tax Auction The Oakland City Council (unanimously) passed a resolution, introduced by Oakland Council member At-Large Rebecca Kaplan, that would support the California State Legislature enacting legislation that would support affordable housing by requiring that … Read more
Rebecca Kaplan Wins Hardest Oakland City Council Race Ever: Beat Lyft, Derreck Johnson, Mayor Schaaf ONN – Rebecca Kaplan Wins Hardest Oakland City Council Race Ever: Beat Lyft, Derreck Johnson, Mayor Schaaf – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube Rebecca Kaplan Wins Hardest Oakland City Council Race Ever: Beat Lyft, Derreck Johnson, Mayor Schaaf Note from Zennie62Media’s … Read more
Oakland – Rebecca Kaplan has retained her At-Large seat on the Oakland City Council. With unofficial results showing her with a lead, her opponent called her this morning to concede the race congratulating her on her new term on the Council. Also congratulating Kaplan on her victory was Councilmember Nikki Bas who said, “Congratulations to … Read more
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – Biden / Harris – Win!! I spent Wednesday morning, November 4th, at the ampitheater in the plaza in front of Oakland’s City Hall, masked and distanced but heartened by the crowd who sang and prayed together for a Just America and demanded that we count every vote! We ate … Read more
Oakland FAD – The Alameda County Registrar of Voters has posted its latest version of the base-level vote tallies for each of the races and measures in the November 3rd, 2020 Election, this one for November 8th, 2020. Here, it’s important to post the message from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters: Total number of … Read more
Oakland, FAD – 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. As the Alameda Registrar of Voters sends new updates, those will be posted below the first set for each race. Here they are, starting with the Oakland City … 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
Oakland Election Day 2020 Look At City Council Candidates From Google Trends Data From YouTube Channel: November 3, 2020 at 02:07AM ONN – Oakland Election Day 2020 Look At City Council Candidates From Google Trends Data Happy Election Day 2020! Would you believe a race so close that my friend Nancy Sidebotham could emerge as … Read more
Oakland – Amid the $200 million in expenditures to pass Proposition 22 and the $400,000 to defeat her by Lyft, Rebecca Kaplan is urging voters to vote No on Proposition 22. Large corporations, including Lyft and Uber, are spending big in this election, seeking to undermine our democracy, harm workers, and undermine our communities, while … Read more
Oakland — The Golden State Warriors have filed for a hearing with the California Supreme Court to overturn the California District Court’s April 2020 decision in favor of the Oakland – Alameda County Coliseum Authority, ruling the Warriors’ responsible for the over $40 million of outstanding debt. This puts the people of Oakland and Alameda … Read more
Ok, Democratic Representative for Vice President Kamala Harris backs Derreck Johnson. Kaplan counters with Bernie Sanders, so Johnson breaks out the commercials with Harris in them. Wow, this Oakland City Council race between the incumbent Oakland City Council At Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan and the challenger Derreck Johnson has shaped up to be one of … Read more
Oakland – We are honored to share the huge news that Senator Bernie Sanders has weighed in on the Oakland City Council At Large race, endorsing Council President Rebecca Kaplan. Former Berkeley Mayor and longtime friend of Senator Sanders, Gus Newport, called Rebecca Kaplan to let her know that Senator Sanders has decided to endorse … Read more
Looking for Mayor Libby Schaaf! Demanding Equal Funding For Parks in Disadvantaged Communities!!
From YouTube Channel: September 25, 2020 at 12:24AM
ONN – For months we have been urging Mayor Libby Schaaf and Council to address the inequity of funding for parks in disadvantaged communities!! Over 40% of Oakalnd’s budget is allocated for the police! What about Parks, Recreation & Youth Development?! Why arent we providing sufficient funds for our youth??
***HELP US URGE OAKLAND LEADERS TO ACT WITH INTEGRITY BY FUNDING ALL PARKS!
CALL & EMAIL :
-Mayor Libby Schaaf –
(510)238-3141, [email protected]
-Council Leader Rebecca Kaplan –
(510) 238-7008, [email protected]
-Jason Mitchell, City Administrator –
(510) 238-6840, [email protected], [email protected]
-Oakand Public Works – (510) 238-3961
https://ift.tt/3kBoBtg
https://ift.tt/31OCdtD
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 YouTube channel. When the video is “liked” by Zennie62 YouTube, then it is automatically uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective here, on top of our 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 – is the use of the existing YouTube social graph on any subject in the World. Now, news is reported with a smartphone and also by promoting current content on YouTube: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary, or having a camera crew to shoot what is already on YouTube. 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.
ONN – Walter Wallace Jr. Mentally Ill Black Man Shot Multiple Times By Phili Police, But Mom Called Cops – vlog by Zennie62 YouTube
Walter Wallace Jr. Mentally Ill Black Man Shot Multiple Times By Phili Police, But Mom Called Cops
It’s for reasons like this that Oakland City Council At Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan and Berkeley City Councilmember Ben Bartlett and many others have called for major reforms in how police departments work with the black population. As this vlog shows, the left side is where Walter Wallace Jr. was shot, but the right shows an officer not shooting a white man brandishing a knife.
Now, Philadelphia is the focus of police versus protestors and just days before the 2020 Presidential Election.
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.
Oakland — Today, the Oakland City Council unanimously passed a resolution introduced by Council member Rebecca Kaplan in Opposition of Proposition 22.
Oakland stands with app-based drivers, gig workers and communities statewide who want a fair playing field. The proposition, funded by a consortium of gig companies, would deny their employees the benefits to which California workers are entitled.
In addition, the supporters of Prop 22, Uber and Lyft among them, spent approximately $184 million dollars to flood the airwaves with political advertisements to deceive the public with false claims about what the proposition would do for drivers. These companies spent a significant amount of money trying to influence the course of election that could have instead been invested in the well-being of their drivers.
At the Council Meeting, several of the speakers during Public Comment made statements and urged the Council to support the resolution. Some speakers were drivers for one of the companies supporting Prop 22, they spoke passionately of her opposition to Prop 22 due to the lack of labor protections and the economic insecurity that comes with being a gig driver. Many expressed their solidarity with drivers and their opposition to Prop 22.
As the pandemic continues, it is as important as ever that workers’ rights are protected. These gig workers are essential workers, and we must do our best to ensure that they have the benefits they need and want.
Tonight, the Oakland City Council voted to Oppose Proposition 22. We took a stand against corporate bullies and for the labor rights of the countless people statewide who value truth and fairness.
Oakland District Two Councilmember Nikki Bas’ Digitized Newsletter
Last week, I was so moved to see #MomsHouse on Magnolia Street finally become community-owned as permanently affordable, transitional housing for unsheltered mothers.
Congratulations to Dominique Walker, Tolani King, Misty Cross, Sameerah Karim and Carroll Fife for leading this movement to end corporate speculation and house more Oaklanders. I am proud to have stood with them over the last year to call attention to making housing a human right, together with Council President Rebecca Kaplan, Councilmember Dan Kalb and Assemblymember Rob Bonta.
Moms 4 Housing
Sustainable, Healthy Use of Lake Merritt – Lake Merritt Vending Pilot Program Update
Coming out of the second weekend of our Lake Merritt Vending Pilot Program, we were excited to be joined by Parks and Recreation Advisory Commissioner Dwayne Aikens, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kev Choice, the Oakland Black Vendors Association and neighbors to:
• Promote health and safety during COVID-19,
• Support struggling small businesses and entrepreneurs in this difficult time, and
• Ensure sustainable, equitable and inclusive long-term use of the Lake.
This pilot program for merchandise vendors will take place through November 22nd on El Embarcadero and along Lakeshore to Beacon from 10am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
This weekend, Community Ready Corps (CRC) will be joining the pilot to promote public health during COVID. Volunteers will distribute COVID kits that have face masks, hand sanitizer and gloves to help promote compliance with the County Health Order.
My team is grateful for the collaboration of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Commission (PRAC), the Oakland Black Vendors Association, James “Old School” Copes, city departments, and the community to ensure access, safety and equity at the Lake for everyone in our city.
This is what an Oakland for all of us means to me — working with a coalition of diverse stakeholders to ensure the Lake, as our city’s pride, is an enjoyable public space that each of us can use.
Moms 4 Housing
TUESDAY 10/20: Oakland City Council Meeting Preview Homeless Encampment Management Policy and Community Safety
Tuesday, October 20th’s 1:30pm City Council meeting will include the following important agenda items:
Item 6: COVID-19 Emergency Response And The Creation Of Clean Air Buildings For Use Of The Community During The COVID-19 Shelter In Place Emergency.
Thanks to our awesome District 2 constituent and outgoing Cleveland Heights Neighborhood Council Co-Chair Rachel Broadwin for introducing us to Dr. Rupa Basu, Section Chief for the Air and Climate Epidemiology Section of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment at CalEPA. At our September Council meeting, I expressed concern that our air quality and temperature triggers were too high to fully protect the health and safety of our most vulnerable residents. At my urging, our Fire Department staff met with Dr. Basu to discuss recommendations for activating extreme weather Emergency Respite Centers (ERC) in Oakland. As an outcome of the conversation and further discussions with internal stakeholders and community feedback, the activation triggers for the City of Oakland have been lowered to an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 200 – Very Unhealthy (versus what was previously 250) and temperatures forecasted to reach/exceed 95 degrees for 2 consecutive days or 100 degrees in one day. We are grateful for Dr. Basu and Rachel’s important expertise as we navigate these challenging times!
Item 7: Gun Violence Top Law Enforcement Priority resolution from President Kaplan to prioritize the decrease in illegal guns and gun violence by increasing gun tracing, improving response time to shooting notifications, and prioritizing response to gun crime.
Item 8: Homeless Encampment Management resolution, which proposes to designate priority areas for encampment management and outlines actions including the criteria for assessing what locations will be prioritized for enforcement or other homelessness interventions from the city.
Item 14: Adopt either the resolution proposed by the Oakland Police Commission or Oakland Police Department banning the carotid restraint and all forms of asphyxia.
Item 16: I’m co-sponsoring with President Kaplan, a resolution Terminating the Oakland Police Department’s Participation In The Joint Terror Task Force to ensure compliance with our local and state laws and focus on threats based on evidence, not bias or racial profiling.
See details to join the meeting and provide public comment. You can also share e-comments here.
TUESDAY 10/27: Community & Economic Development Meeting – Impact Fees, Economic Recovery Recommendations
On Tuesday October 27th at 1:30pm, the Community and Economic Development Committee will discuss two important items:
Item 2: Informational report on Impact Fees for Affordable Housing, Jobs/Housing, and Transportation and Capital Improvements, and
Item 3: Informational report on the Economic Recovery Council’s Draft Recommendations.
Oakland Workers, Know Your Rights! COVID-19 Emergency Paid Sick Leave
Oakland Workers Rights
Thank you to East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) for creating Know Your Rights materials on the emergency protections for Oakland workers passed by Council earlier this summer, which I was proud to co-sponsor.
The City’s Emergency Paid Sick Leave policy requires certain employers to provide leave to workers who test positive for COVID-19, present symptoms, are caring for family members who were exposed or present symptoms, or are at high risk from an infection. Check out and share the flyers in English and Spanish so that Oakland workers are aware of their rights!
City of Oakland; District 2 News and Resources
County Reopening Updates, Small Biz Legal Support, Grants for Home-Based Business
New County Health Orders Allow Additional Business Operations: Effective October 9, Alameda County now allows: hotels & lodging for tourism with their fitness centers and indoor pools restricted; museums, zoos & aquariums indoors at < 25% capacity; personal care services indoors with modification (services requiring removal of face covering still prohibited); gyms and fitness centers indoors at < 10% capacity with restrictions on aerobic exercise and classes. While the update allows partial reopening of libraries, Oakland Public LIbrary will remain closed for indoor services until plans are in place for safely reopening the buildings.
Beginning Friday, October 16, Alameda County will permit additional outdoor activities, including playgrounds, that follow the State’s guidance. Additionally, Alameda County is preparing to update the local Health Officer Orders to permit additional activities during the week of October 26. These activities will include: indoor dining up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; indoor worship services up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; indoor theaters up to 25% capacity or less than 100 people, whichever is less; expansion of indoor retail and malls at up to 50% of capacity and permitting limited food courts.
County Guidance on Safe Halloween Practices: Bay Area health officials recently released guidance on how to celebrate Halloween and Dia de los Muertos safely. Gatherings, celebrations, events or parties with non-household members are not permitted unless conducted in compliance with local and state health orders. Please avoid participating in traditional trick-or-treating where treats are handed to children who go door to door and do not have trunk-or-treat where treats are handed from car trunks lined up in large parking lots.
Many traditional Halloween celebrations, such as parties and door-to-door trick-or-treating, pose a high risk of spreading COVID-19 and are strongly discouraged by CDPH
Not only do traditional celebrations pose a spread risk, they would also result in great difficulty in conducting appropriate contact tracing
Local Health Departments may have additional, more stringent restrictions
CDPH recommends that families begin planning for safer alternatives.
Legal Help for Oakland Small Businesses with Lease Negotiations: Oakland has allocated $150,000 of California CARES funding to the nonprofit Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the SF Bay Area to provide legal advice and assistance on lease negotiations to small businesses that have suffered revenue losses due to COVID-19. Business owners can access these free, multilingual legal services here, such as commercial leasing webinars through mid-December, 1:1 one-hour consultations and longer-term assistance which may include lease negotiation, pre-litigation and settlement negotiations or representation in a court proceeding.
$2-4K Grants for Home-Based Businesses: Income from a home-based business is often a big source of household income for our city’s entrepreneurs. The Oakland CARES Act Home-Based Business Grant program will distribute $500,000 to home-based, for-profit businesses. Apply here by 11:59pm on Monday, November 2 in 4 languages. Priority will be given to businesses representing a broad geographic diversity in Oakland, especially those located in low-income areas or otherwise historically vulnerable communities; those who have received $4,000 or less in funding from the Paycheck Protection Program; and those with annual gross business revenue under $150,000.
Several Grants Extended:
The Oakland CARES Act Small Business Grant Program will accept applications until 5 p.m. on Friday, October 23. This program will provide $10,000 grants to qualifying Oakland small businesses that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and have gross revenues under $2 million. Online applications and eligibility requirements in four languages are available at: mainstreetlaunch.org/oakland-cares-act-grant/
The application deadline for the Oakland CARES Nonprofit Grant Fund has been extended to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, October 28. This program will award grants of up to $25,000 to qualifying community-serving nonprofits with annual budgets of less than $1 million that address the impact of COVID-19 and the needs of low-income residents and businesses in the following areas: Health & Human Services; Economic & Workforce Development; Legal Support; Food Security; Homeless and Renter Support Services; and Education. Online applications and eligibility requirements are available at: communityvisionca.org/oaklandcares/
The application deadline for the Oakland CARES Fund for Artists and Arts Nonprofits impacted by COVID-19 has been extended to 1pm Friday, October 23. The program will distribute awards of up to $20,000 to arts nonprofits with annual budgets of less than $2.5M, while supporting individual artists with grants of up to $3,000 each. Learn more here.
Oakland Parks & Recreation Foundation’s 1st Citywide Parks Workshop: Whether you’re an experienced community leader or a new volunteer, join this free workshop taking place on Saturday, November 14, from 9:00am to 1:00pm to collaborate and learn about strategies and tools to improve Oakland parks. Learn more and register here.
East Bay Community Energy’s Resilient Home Program: Oakland has partnered with nonprofit public electricity provider East Bay Community Energy to launch a solar + battery backup program for homeowners. EBCE has partnered with Sunrun to provide no-cost / obligation-free consultations and will provide a proposal for your consideration. If you decide to move forward, there is a $1,250 incentive to homeowners that enroll their battery in the program and share power with EBCE during peak times when there isn’t a power outage. Since launch in August, nearly 700 homeowners countywide have registered for consultations. Sign up for your consultation and learn more at upcoming webinars.
Voting Reminders
Vote Early!
Given the pandemic and the threats to our democracy, please vote early. All registered voters will be sent an absentee ballot automatically to limit COVID exposure. You must register to vote to receive an absentee ballot!
You can vote in person or drop off your ballot at the Alameda County Registrar of Voters: 1225 Fallon Street, Room G1, Oakland, or put it into one of the official, free 24-hour drop boxes anytime by November 3rd 8pm. If you use a USPS mailbox, postage is free, and it’s critical to vote early!
You can also sign up to track your ballot.
October 19th is the last day for regular online voter registration.
October 20th – November 3rd, you can do same day voter registration.
On November 3rd, you can vote in person or drop your ballot off at your polling place by 8pm.
With many measures on the ballot, my go-to guides are Oakland Rising’s Voter Guide and the CA AAPI Voting Guide in seven AAPI languages.
With Oakland Love,
Nikki Fortunato Bas
Councilmember, City of Oakland, District 2
ONN – Oakland Community Leaders Speak Up With Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan: Press Conference
Rebecca Kaplan is joined by Community Leaders speaking out against the attempt by wealthy corperations to buy our elections in Oakland and in California. With the recent big money attacks against Kaplan by Lyft, community leaders stand in solidarity and in support for Kaplan’s re-election for the Oakland At-Large Council seat, and also for the importance of voting NO on Prop 22.
Speakers in order of appearance:
Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan
Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez
Assemblymember Ash Kalra
Labor Leader Art Pulaski
Candidate for Oakland City Council District 3 Carroll Fife
VP Alameda Labor Council Gary Jimenez
Sierra Club Representative Igor Tregub
OUSD Board District 1 Candidate Sam Davis
OUSD Board District 3 Candidate VanCedric Williams
Press Conference held Monday October 5, 2020 via Zoom.
kaplanforoakland.org
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 YouTube channel. When the video is “liked” by Zennie62 YouTube, then it is automatically uploaded to and formatted automatically at the Oakland News Now site and Zennie62-created and owned social media pages. The overall objective here, on top of our 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 – is the use of the existing YouTube social graph on any subject in the World. Now, news is reported with a smartphone and also by promoting current content on YouTube: no heavy and expensive cameras or even a laptop are necessary, or having a camera crew to shoot what is already on YouTube. 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.
Earlier this week, I ended my 2020 State of the City address by recognizing that this November’s election is so consequential it could chart a new path for our state and our nation. I meant it.
I hope you’re as fired up as I am about this Presidential race, and how proud we can all be to vote for native Oaklander Kamala Harris for Vice President along with Joe Biden.
If you want to help turn out voters in critical states it is easier than ever to do right from home. Check out these easy phone banking options with SwingLeft or Indivisible. If you’re too shy to phone bank, www.voteforward.org is an easy way to send personalized, nonpartisan letters out to simply encourage folks to vote.
And there are some transformational California Measures on the 2020 ballot! I’m most excited to vote for Schools & Communities First – Prop 15! It will close corporate property tax loopholes to reclaim nearly $12 billion every year for schools and vital services for our local communities, while protecting residential properties and small businesses. (In fact, with Prop 19 seniors and disaster survivors will have more residential property tax protections than they have today). We also need Prop 16 to pass, so we can consider diversity and racial equity in public decisions and level the playing field. And to advance criminal justice reform, vote for Props 17 & 25 and against Prop 20.
I’m also super passionate about electing Derreck Johnson for At-Large City Council – as is Kamala Harris. A 3rd-generation, gay, African American Oaklander raised by a single mother in the Acorn housing projects, he graduated from an HBCU and started House of Chicken & Waffles in Jack London Square, where 70% of employees have been formerly incarcerated. He’s the former Chair of Oakland’s Workforce Development Board and in 2012 Congresswoman Barbara Lee presented him with the City of Oakland’s Citizen Humanitarian Award. His life experiences are particularly needed as Oakland meets this moment to advance racial justice and help our economy recover.
Since Oakland created the At-Large seat 40 years ago, it has never been held by an African American. Its current incumbent Rebecca Kaplan has made budget proposals deemed “reckless” and “designed to appease special interests.” She tried to kill Oakland’s Department of Transportation, which not only is fixing Oakland’s broken and dangerous streets, but is nationally recognized for its commitment to equity. And the East Bay Express criticized her for a “shady political campaign” and “poor decision-making” which “raises concerns about her ethics.”
Here’s my complete Voter’s Guide:
I’m supporting all of Oakland’s Congressional, State and Special District Board incumbents, with the exception of challenger Jean Walsh for AC Transit.
Here’s where I stand on State & Local Propositions & Measures:
Yes on Prop 14 to expand stem cell research.
Yes on Prop 15 to permanently increase public school and local services funding by closing a big corporate property tax loophole.
Yes on Prop 16 so our public institutions can consider diversity and racial equity in our work to lift-up ALL Californians.
Yes on Prop 17 to restore the right to vote for parolees.
Yes on Prop 18 to let 17 year-olds vote in primaries if they’ll be 18 before the general election.
Yes on Prop 19 to allow seniors, people with disabilities and disaster survivors to maintain their tax base on a replacement home.
NO on Prop 20 sentencing reform rollback because over-incarceration don’t work.
Yes on Prop 21 to expand rent control options for cities.
NO on Prop 22 to protect new hard-earned rights for gig workers.
Yes on Prop 23 to improve standard of care at Dialysis Centers.
You decide Prop 24 RE: Consumer Privacy. There are pros & cons.
Yes on Prop 25 to end the unjust money bail system.
Yes on Measure V to extend a utility tax on unincorporated Alameda County for their services.
Yes on Measure W to increase sales tax by a half-cent to fund county services, especially public health and homelessness.
Yes on Measure Y to upgrade & repair our classrooms.
Yes on Measure QQ to allow youth to vote for School Board members.
Yes on Measure RR to allow city fines to exceed $1000.
Yes on Measure S1 to strengthen Oakland’s Police Commission.
Oakland City Council Races
You know I love Oakland. Please trust my careful assessments in these Oakland City Council Races:
At-Large: Derreck Johnson – deeply-rooted Oaklander and small business & workforce leader made for this moment.
District 1: Dan Kalb – ethical, progressive hard-working legislator and environmental champion.
District 3: Lynette Gibson McElhaney – grieving mother & grandmother herself, a powerful advocate for violence prevention & community development.
District 5: Noel Gallo – with deep roots & decades of public service, a tireless worker for clean streets and public education.
District 7: Treva Reid – East Oakland couldn’t ask for a more competent, deeply experienced & compassionate new leader. Marchon Tatmon has my #2 for his Budget Advisory Commission & homeless services experience.
Oakland School Board
You know I’m passionate about public education and OUSD’s success. Please support these Oakland School Board candidates:
District 1: Austin Dannhaus – former teacher, focused on educational equity, quality schools for all students and results; Board and finance experience critical for during this time. Sam Davis has my #2 due to his past experience with families in Oakland and commitment to dialogue.
District 3: Maiya Edgerly and Mark Hurty (Dual Endorsement)-
*Maiya-founder of an non-profit that supports students to get into HBCUs, that is aligned with Oakland Promise’s vision to support students be first in their family to complete college.
*Mark-former Oakland teacher, passionate about educational equity; kind and open to dialogue, presently helping to lead an non-profit aligned with #OaklandUndivided’s vision to close the digital divide.
District 5 – Leroy Gaines and Jorge Lerma (Dual Endorsement)-
*Leroy- a former teacher and OUSD principal for >10 years – selected OUSD principal of the year, kind, demonstrated leadership, strong relationships with educators, students & families, history of results.
*Jorge- a former Oakland teacher, principal and leader for decades, founded Latino Education Network; a gentle soul, committed to equity, pre-K, K12 experience, and a champion of Oakland Promise.
District 7: Cliff Thompson -a teacher and principal for >40 years with deep roots, Oakland education experience; kind soul who cares deeply for equity & quality schools for all students, demonstrated leadership.
So much is at stake this election! As I said in my State of the City, we must vote — and volunteer — like our lives depend on it.
ONN – Michelle Dione Snider, You Rep Oakland Post, A Black News Site, Yet Blast Me For Pointing Out Racism
Michelle Dione Snider is the Associate Editor of the Oakland Post, and even though we’ve never actually met or talked on the phone, was a friend of the Facebook variety. She’s best known as the person who made the famous BBQ Becky video from 2018. With that, I believed she was sensitive to racism against blacks in America. Apparently, and shockingly, I learned I am mistaken.
For reasons best known to her, Michelle elected to get on Facebook and attack me for pointing out that an Oaklandside entry on Oakland City Council Race At-Large Candidate Derreck Johnson explaining that he filed for bankruptcy while running his business was racist. As I said before, it tried to make him look bad in an area that’s the focus of many black business problems: being under-capitalized. I do not support Derreck Johnson’s run against my friend Oakland At Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, but that does not mean I’m going to sit by and watch an attack I view as racist from my own experience as a black man in America.
But, even though Michelle Dione represents The Oakland Post, a black news website and news paper, she just decided to attack me on Facebook, and say “That’s a non-profit journalism organization”, as if that buys Oaklandside the place to be unassailable. Then, she went off and accused me of making bots to inflate my web traffic. That, right there, showed me she has no idea how the web works. And she’s trying to put me in the typically racist place of being the black guy who does something criminal. On top of that, she obviously has no respect for what I’ve done for The Oakland Post over the years.
If you go and look at the sidebar for Oakland News Now, you will see that Post Newsgroup Publisher and friend Paul Cobb is presented as a special person, and because he is. Paul Cobb can say that he knew Martin Luther King, Jr. In fact, Paul and I talked about that in 2007. Have a look:
Also, in 2016, I was hired to boost The Oakland Post website’s traffic and also correct a vast number of problems. The Oakland Post was not on key news aggregators (and now it’s not, again after my work to put it back on them), and did not understand how to use basic search engine optimization practices. I boosted The Oakland Post web traffic by as much as 300 percent. Now, if Michelle Dione thinks I make traffic bots, as she claims, then one would think she would be happy I used them to help the The Oakland Post, right? What a riot!
Michelle must understand that she can’t represent a black news organization and have white sensibilities. Media is the last bastion of white supremacy. For Michelle to throw the typical “they’re better than you” and “what you do is criminal” take on me, begs for a fight I’m happy to wage. I’m sick and tired of institutional racism. I will not put up with it. And for a person who represent a black news organization, and yet is white and seems to have little sensitivity at all to racist images in media, is all kinds of wrong – it’s racist. I am not saying a person has to be black to recognize racism in media, but I am saying one can’t say they represent a black media publication, yet are demonstrably blind to see racism in media.
As an update, another colleague who’s with the The Oakland Post, also white and female, also took to Mark Zuckerberg’s site to attack me, and this time for the post you’re reading. That both can’t at all see what racism in media looks like is sad, but even sadder is they are allowed to present such a problem of blindness to racist media images and stories while representing a black-owned publication. (And it’s even more disturbing to see a black person in media advance such classic institutional racism).
I fear for Oakland’s future because it points to an environment where any black person who points to institutional racism draws a white-led attack on their point of view, rather than any desire to want to see change.
I am not expecting an apology. I am very disappointed to learn that, all of this time, Michelle has issues, personal issues, with me. And I’ve never met her.
In closing, I add these words from one of my favorite songs, Private Idaho by The B-52’s, and it is a message for Michelle, and the obviously racially unsympathetic view she expressed:
Keep off the path, beware of the gate
Watch out for signs that say “hidden driveways”
Don’t let the chlorine in your eyes
Blind you to the awful surprise
That’s been waitin’ for you at
The bottom of the bottomless blue, blue, blue pool
You’re livin’ in your own Private Idaho, Idaho
You’re out of control, the rivers that roll
You fell into the water and down to Idaho
Get out of that state
Get out of the state you’re in
You better beware
According to Songfacts, “In this song, the fine state of Idaho is used to represent a case of paranoia – the lyrics “get out of that state” meaning to get out of that state of mind.” What I am pointing to is a state of mind that protects the idea that white-ran traditional media is beyond reproach.
And now, I think I’ll close with this fun addition, and because we need a giant dose of levity, with some mix of irony:
Stay tuned.
Zennie
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.
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.
ONN – Oaklandside’s Attack On Derreck Johnson In The Oakland City Council Race Was Racist
The Oaklandside, a new online publication by the person who owns Berkeleyside and that has a $3 million grant from Google, owes Derreck Johnson, a candidate in the Oakland City Council race for the At-Large Seat occupied by Rebecca Kaplan (who I endorsed), an apology (and just maybe a chunk of that 3 million). It’s recent post attacking him for filing bankruptcy was nothing short of racist in my view as an Oakland black media entrepreneur in the time of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
In this case, some who are white, just could not accept that my actions were out of anger for the racist Oaklandside post, and first assumed that I was backing Derreck Johnson, when I openly said I was supporting Rebecca Kaplan, and then, on their own, guessed that Derreck, Mayor Schaaf, and I all went to Skyline High School together.
When a friend of mine who’s white texted me with that question about Skyline High School (where I am Class of 80 and Libby is Class of 1981), I called and let him know how upset with him I was. I said “You can’t accept the fact that my concern for what was written about him was purely because I perceived it as racist, huh? Do you realize that’s racist?”
As my friend is prone to do, he laughs nervously and tries to change the subject, but this time I kept focus. The problem was the Oaklandside post was truly institutionally racist, and it doesn’t matter what a person thinks to the contrary, even if they’re black. In Oakland, too many of us black folks are too willing to put down someone else black anyway – it’s a crabbarrel problem of massive proportions that helps no one.
The fact is that, according to Derreck himself, he went to Bishop O’Dowd High School, not Skyline High School. And so that leads back to my point: the desire to not see a racist act and deflect eyes from view keeps it as justifiable. That’s what my friend was trying to do, and he needs to stop doing it. As I said to him “We can’t allow a point of view like yours to fester because, little by little, these racist stories build up, until we get George Floyd all over again.”
No more racial profiling in media. If Derreck’s run has done anything, it’s shown a spotlight on that problem. It has to stop.
Donald Trump’s Businesses Have Filed For Bankruptcy Many Time Yet He’s Considered Successful
The Washington Post reported that Donald Trump’s businesses filed for bankruptcy six times. In all of the media coverage, no reporter or columnist ever blasted Donald Trump for bragging about his success. By contrast, Derreck Johnson’s business filed for bankrupcy and here is the Oaklandside’s Darwin BondGraham (and its editors hiding behind him) to say he’s not successful. Johnson is black. Trump is white. There should be one standard of fact: both started and ran businesses that employed people. And in Johnson’s case, he gave black men and women out of prison another chance at life. That’s successful.
Derreck Johnson Oakland City Council At Large 2020 Candidate Interview
And, as a momentary aside, I’m proud to report that Zennie62Media’s OaklandNewsNow.com that you’re reading is twice the size of Oaklandside in online traffic, and with a fraction of it’s budget. And it’s black owned and operated, whereas Oaklandside has a black editor, but is white owned, and the person who wrote the post is white and male.
Oaklandside’s Attack On Derreck Johnson Reflects A Classic Pattern Of Media Racism
Anyway, Oaklandside accused Derreck Johnson of being so proud as a black man to run television commercials saying he’s “successful”, that he needed to be taken down a notch by getting out “the truth”. The truth as Oaklandside saw it. The truth as Oaklandside was presented with by a source. I say that because I know where the information came from, and who gave it to Oaklandside, regardless of what it claims. Moreover, it’s no secret: bankruptcy information is publicly available, folks.
What Oaklandside did was simply make phone calls around town to form a story around the information it was given. If Oaklandside were truly interested in “the truth” it would have produced an article with information about the businesses of all of the candidates, without sensationalism. If Oaklandside was were truly interested in “the truth”, it would have worked with Mr. Johnson to run a positive story about what problems he experienced as a black man keeping his business going.
The story Oaklandside’s racist lens caused it to miss was one that needs to be told at a time when everyone from Facebook to Google has some kind of initiative focused on financing black businesses, in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Think about it. As Marcus Burke put in for The World Economic Forum “Following the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many other Black people at the hands of police, companies have started to take a stand against systemic racism.” Obviously, Oaklandside showed itself to be completely tone-deaf to the times.
In the paper “Media Representations and Impact on the Lives of Black Men and Boys”, by the Topos Partnership with The Opportunity Agenda, the authors observe:
A robust body of research documents how the overall presentation of black males in the media is distorted in a variety of ways, relative to the real-world facts. While individual studies tend to focus on a single genre or medium — such as TV fiction shows, magazine advertising, or video games — the research taken as a whole reveals broad patterns, including:
Negative associations exaggerated — particularly criminality, unemployment, and poverty. The idle black male on the street corner is not the “true face” of poverty in America, but he is the dominant one in the world as depicted by media.
Positive associations limited — particularly, sports, physical achievement in general, virility, and musicality. While the media’s version of America is populated by some black males intended to inspire, they tend to represent a relatively limited range of qualities to the exclusion of a variety of other everyday virtues.
The “problem” frame — Due to both distortions and also accurate and sympathetic discussion, black males tend to be overly associated with intractable problems.
Missing stories — Many important dimensions of black males’ lives, such as historical antecedents of black economic disadvantage and persistence of anti-black male bias, are largely ignored by the media.
In Derreck Johnson’s case, Oaklandside missed a great chance to have him tell his story of what led to the problems he experienced with his business. Moreover, Oaklandside worked to, as the authors wrote about media bias against black men, “Negative associations exaggerated — particularly criminality, unemployment, and poverty.” In other words, the Oaklandside’s seems to be upset that Johnson didn’t say he had been in financial trouble. Note, Johnson didn’t break any law, so that was the best it could do in attacking Derreck Johnson.
The Times Are Changing – The LA Times
In these times, America is beginning to wake up to the media racism that has worked to constantly paint blacks in a negative light. The kind of media racism that has been active in Oakland and San Francisco Bay Area media for far too long. And, let’s face it, the kind of media racism that was served up to feed the desires of some in Oakland who are white for the most part, and just don’t want to believe anything positive about anyone black who dares say they’re successful, or holds a title. Those persons want to push blacks into the familiar image of being poor, downtrodden, and criminally inclined. The kind of media The Oaklandside produced makes them oh so happy. Sad stuff that must stop.
In that, I must say it’s great The Los Angeles Times called out its own history of racism.
But, even then, The Los Angeles Times leaves out the racist lens that’s still applied today, and one that Oaklandside uses. Moreover, one would think that other mainstream media news publications would follow the Los Angeles Times’ lead, (like The San Francisco Chronicle, which has its own problems with racism as one can see here, and here, too.) but to this date, crickets. For many who are white, racism only exists when the n-word is used or a black person is physically harmed. But real racism is evident in all aspects of life, and in many ways, and in media, it’s expressed in how blacks are portrayed.
As I saw it, here’s the truth: Derreck Johnson did establish and run a business in Oakland that employed people, most notably black ex-prisoners who needed help. Stop it right there: that’s the success story that should be told, and that Derreck has the right to crow about. It’s clearly a story Oaklandside didn’t even think to try to tell, even though it was starring them in right in the face. Oaklandside was way too focused on putting a cyber-knee in Derreck Johnson’s online neck.
I got wind of this via a phone call from a friend. I called Derreck Johnson and we talked extensively. I told him that my first introduction to him was from an email from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. I said it wasn’t the first time my godsister advanced a candidate to challenge Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan. I also told him that, for those reasons, I thought of him as a Manchurian candidate. He laughed and understood and because I gave him a video platform to talk about running for office and about himself. I never sought to put him down. Blacks in America have had enough of media racism.
Unlike Oaklandside, I asked and gave Derreck Johnson a chance to tell his story:
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.
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:
OAKLAND, CA – Yesterday, October 5th, at 10:30AM Oakland City Councilmember at-large Rebecca Kaplan, held a press conference together with a coalition of leaders, to denounce the lies of billionaires who are trying to buy our elections – both in the City of Oakland, and throughout California. Large corporations, including Lyft and Uber, are spending big in this election, seeking to undermine our democracy, harm workers, and undermine our communities, while demanding sweetheart deals and special loopholes for themselves. In this upcoming November election, they are spending big, at the local level in Oakland and Statewide in California — where they also recently gave large sums to the State Republican Party.
Rebecca challenged them to “put their mouth where their money is” and debate her. Kaplan demanded they tell the voters directly why they think they should not pay their fair share for the roads and infrastructure they rely on every day.
Said Kaplan: “Locally they are demanding special treatment, tax loopholes, and monopoly power. The big money they are spending to attack me is less than the millions of dollars they could cost the people, if billionaires get to hurt workers and community. These huge corporations are trying to undermine our democracy, for California, and locally in Oakland.”
Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez added: “We can’t allow billionaire corporations to buy politicians and policies, either directly or indirectly. I’m standing up with Rebecca Kaplan because I know she will stand with regular folks against corporate greed. She’s already proven that, and that’s why they are targeting her.”
Gary Jimenez, Vice President of SEIU 1021 stated: “We are living in uncertain times and working families remain under attack. We cannot let large corporations continue to dump tons of money into our elections supporting anti worker politicians. I support Kaplan who supports working families.”
Sam Davis, Candidate for Oakland Unified School District Board said of this overreach, “We’ve seen how the huge expenditures by billionaires in our Oakland school board elections have corroded our democratic process, and we need to take a stand and say this stops here and now. Only by building a truly grassroots campaign, with thousands of voices, can we drown out the money megaphone that we are up against. I support Rebecca because she stands with our teachers and students.”
And Art Pulaski, CA Labor Federation Executive Officer, said: ““Oakland voters aren’t going to stand for Lyft’s brazen attempt to strip workers of basic rights, smear a champion of working people and buy elections.”
Randy Shaw, journalist and housing advocate, sent: “A company spending tens of millions of dollars to deprive workers of benefits via Prop 22 is now targeting a councilmember who has fought for increased affordability in Oakland. Prop 22 would make Oakland’s housing crisis much worse.”
The Facebook Live link can be found here and: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=371874683949862
HIgh resolution video of the event can be found here and: https://click.email.vimeo.com/u/?qs=f6c83dd7bbe8a3047149e1e50c76c819213151acf43d4d7dc859afdf277a41ce0741598c316ed686d86a25cacfbdffc48a9400cd91b6042e3b5ac4fe84cbacae
Rebecca Kaplan Calls for New Solutions to Oakland’s Speeding Problems & Requests Support From the State Legislature at the October 6, 2020 Oakland City Council Meeting
Oakland, CA —It seems that every day there is a report of a fatal hit and run or reckless speeding that has resulted in serious injury on Oakland’s streets. It has become a precarious endeavor for anyone, but especially the elderly and children, to cross the street or even walk on the sidewalk. We need stronger action to make our streets safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, and others.
The practice has been to rely exclusively on police officers for speeding enforcement, but this has not been working well. In a city the size of Oakland, it is not possible for the police to create a sufficient presence to catch speeding violations or be a deterrent that would discourage dangerous driving activity that has caused serious injury and fatalities. The discretionary, disparate treatment of African Americans, and the ways that traffic stops have sometimes resulted in people being killed by police during traffic stops, are also reasons that the more effective options of civilian and automated traffic enforcement is desirable.
Oakland Council President Rebecca Kaplan is proposing Oakland adopt a resolution requesting the State Legislature to enact legislation that would give municipalities the flexibility to adopt more effective methods for speeding enforcement, at the October 6th Oakland City Council meeting.
We need strategies that avoid racial disparities, prevent traffic stops from escalating into police shootings, while making speeding enforcement more effective and more broadly implemented. The answer is alternative traffic enforcement. Alternative traffic enforcement is the use of cameras and/or civilian personnel, such as Department of Transportation staff, to enforce traffic laws. This approach to traffic enforcement frees up the police to focus on serious crime, reduces likelihood of problematic police interactions, and improves reliability and fairness of enforcement. It also represents a potential savings for a city since it costs more for sworn officers to address these violations.
These systems can reduce racial disparities. “Driving While Black,” is the familiar term to describe the racial profiling used by law enforcement when an African American driver is stopped for little to no reason. The fear of a traffic stop escalated with no apparent reason is well-known in communities of color. With the use of cameras looking at license plates rather than individuals, automated systems, and local civilian staffing, communities of color could get a ticket for speeding, and it would no longer be a potentially life-threatening situation.
The City of Berkeley has already taken steps in this direction. In July, Berkeley approved the use of transportation personnel to conduct traffic stops. The City of San Francisco has also previously expressed interest in alternative methods of speeding enforcement. Oakland is also now working on strategies to provide for options beyond using an armed officer for these situations. But allowing cities flexibility for these solutions requires a change in State law in California.
The California Legislature needs to assist municipalities like Oakland and Berkeley and beyond with more flexibility to innovate as we address this danger on Oakland’s streets. Alternative traffic enforcement is one place where that assistance could begin. The Legislature needs to amend State laws, to allow cities the discretion to use methods for speeding enforcement that are fairer and more effective.
SFMTA efforts for an Automated Speed Enforcement Project:
Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan is an honors graduate from MIT, and holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Kaplan was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember, she was re-elected in 2016.
Oakland – Today, the Oakland City Council, CPAB, SSOC, and the Police Commission will discuss the concept, introduced by Council President Rebecca Kaplan, to make guns the top law enforcement priority in the City of Oakland. If Oakland can deter illegal guns and gun violence by increasing gun tracing, improving response time to shooting notifications, and prioritizing response to gun crime, the city will be a safer place to live.
The Oakland City Council has previously adopted policies to set law enforcement priorities in the direction of “low priority” issues — designating which topics it would be the policy for OPD not to prioritize, such as cannabis.
“I am calling for the City of Oakland to Declare Gun Violence as the Top Law Enforcement Priority for the City of Oakland, to decrease the number of illegal guns and gun violence in the city. By increasing gun tracing and prioritizing action to respond to gun crime,” states Council President Rebecca Kaplan. “We must recognize the easy availability of illegal guns increases violence and harm, and in order to reduce gun violence, we need to crack down on illegal guns, and have a timely and effective response to shooting notifications.”
The City of Oakland is experiencing an increase in the amount of guns shots fired. According to the Oakland Police Department’s ShotSpotter Activations Report, the Oakland Police Crime Analysis Division reported approximately 2,807 ShotSpottter Activations from gunshots fired in 2019. As of September 20, 2020, there have been approximately 4,104 ShotSpotter activations from guns fired. This number is a forty-six percent (46%) increase from the year prior, and that many gunshots don’t show up in 911 call statistics.
As of August 23, 2020, the Oakland Police Department Crime Analysis reported thirty-four (34%) percent increase in reported gunfire in Oakland. In 2019, there were 953 occurrences of gunfire. This year, 1,281 occurrences of gunfire were reported, with a quarter of the year still to be determined. In a single weekend from August 6th-9th, 2020, ten shootings were reported across the city, which resulted in five fatalities, many of the cases are unsolved, with the assailants remaining at-large.
Currently, there is also a grave need for an effective and robust gun tracing program to curb the amount of gun violence and reduce the number of illegal guns on the streets. Kaplan has been a consistent advocate for increased efforts around gun and shell tracing. She fought for the funding to acquire the gun and shell tracing equipment. She understands that gun tracing is essential to shutting down sources of illegal guns on Oakland’s streets.
In order to ensure that illegal guns can be tracked down and to deter gun crime, it will be important to have timely response on notifications of shootings, and more consistent tracing of guns and shell casings. Kaplan has requested information from OPD about the frequency of providing an immediate deployment in response to notifications of shootings, and about how often there is the ability to collect shell casings or other materials to help identify and shut down sources of illegal guns.
The goal is to make smart and effective choices about deployments, and timely response to urgent situations like armed robberies in progress. The recent choice by the Oakland Police Chief to order hundreds of Police Officers to stay downtown watching peaceful protesters was not the most effective and efficient use of law enforcement resources, while urgent needs for response and follow up on armed robberies was lacking. A better use of sworn personnel would have been to ensure presence in community and commercial corridors facing armed robberies throughout the city. A discussion about making gun violence a top law enforcement priority for the City of Oakland will help ensure that resources are distributed in a more effective and just manner.
ONN – Lyft Commercial Attacking Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council At-Large Incumbent, Was Stupid
Lyft Commercial Attacking Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council At-Large Incumbent, Was Stupid
Ok. So what do you call a corporate political strategy which calls for attacking an incumbent elected official who tried to get that firm to pay more taxes and treat its workers better – the same workers who are voters in that city? I call it stupid.
That’s what Lyft did in this case of Oakland At-Large Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.
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.
Oakland – Just hours after it was announced that Lyft had dumped $100K into television ads against Oakland City Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan, allegedly lying about her record on housing, the At-Large Councilmember has received a number of new endorsements in the fight to stop the oligarchs from buying Oakland.
“This is not about housing,” Kaplan said of Lyft’s financial contribution to the campaign committee opposing her. “This is about a billionaire corporation that doesn’t want to pay its fair share in taxes and wants to abuse its workers.”
Rand Shaw – journalist, and pro-housing advocate – endorsed Rebecca’s re-election saying in an email, “Rebecca, I am absolutely horrified that YIMBY’s are using Lyft money to oppose you. I never make Oakland endorsements but feel compelled to show my support for you. So please list me as an endorser. Thanks, and on to victory!” and then followed with a tweet denouncing the lies by Lyft “IN 2018 @Kaplan4Oakland sought to increase housing density on transit corridors and upzone Rockridge. Yet some East Bay YIMBY’s have taken $100K from Lyft to help defeat this strong housing advocate. Terrible move.“
Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez who is a champion for working people and their families and who was the Primary Sponsor of Assembly Bill 5 which is now being fought by Lyft in a statewide ballot measure – Proposition 22 – funded by the same oligarchs that are running attack ads on Rebecca also endorsed her re-election to the At Large seat.
Finally, Assemblymember Ash Kalra, who was a co-sponsor of Assembly Bill 5, re-tweeted his colleague and showed support for Rebecca’s campaign.
These types of dirty campaign tactics should be unacceptable in Oakland politics. Oaklanders deserve better. What is most important right now is to help people make a plan to vote. It is so important to mail your ballots early this year or find your local drop box. Ballots drop on October 5th so people should be checking their mailbox, and if they plan to mail their ballot to get it in the mail by October 10th to assure it makes it to the Registrar in time.
Rebecca is proud to have the endorsement and support of many community organizations, leaders, grassroots advocates, and residents. For endorsement information please visit http://kaplanforoakland.org/endorsements/.
Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan is an honors graduate from MIT, and holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Kaplan was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember, she was re-elected in 2016, Rebecca is Oakland’s first openly LGBTQ+ elected official and she serves on the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC).
Follow Council President Kaplan on Twitter @Kaplan4Oakland and Facebook.
Oakland — It seems that every day there is a report of a fatal hit and run or reckless speeding that has resulted in serious injury on Oakland’s streets. It has become a precarious endeavor for anyone, but especially the elderly and children, to cross the street or even walk on the sidewalk. We need stronger action to make our streets safer for pedestrians, bicyclists, and others.
The practice has been to rely exclusively on police officers for speeding enforcement, but this has not been working well. In a city the size of Oakland, it is not possible for the police to create a sufficient presence to catch speeding violations or be a deterrent that would discourage dangerous driving activity that has caused serious injury and fatalities. The discretionary, disparate treatment of African Americans, and the ways that traffic stops have sometimes resulted in people being killed by police during traffic stops, are also reasons that the more effective options of civilian and automated traffic enforcement is desirable.
Oakland Council President Rebecca Kaplan is proposing Oakland adopt a resolution requesting the State Legislature to enact legislation that would give municipalities the flexibility to adopt more effective methods for speeding enforcement.
We need strategies that avoid racial disparities, prevent traffic stops from escalating into police shootings, while making speeding enforcement more effective and more broadly implemented. The answer is alternative traffic enforcement. Alternative traffic enforcement is the use of cameras and/or civilian personnel, such as Department of Transportation staff, to enforce traffic laws. This approach to traffic enforcement frees up the police to focus on serious crime, reduces likelihood of problematic police interactions, and improves reliability and fairness of enforcement. It also represents a potential savings for a city since it costs more for sworn officers to address these violations.
These systems can reduce racial disparities. “Driving While Black,” is the familiar term to describe the racial profiling used by law enforcement when an African American driver is stopped for little to no reason. The fear of a traffic stop escalated with no apparent reason is well-known in communities of color. With the use of cameras looking at license plates rather than individuals, automated systems, and local civilian staffing, communities of color could get a ticket for speeding, and it would no longer be a potentially life-threatening situation.
The City of Berkeley has already taken steps in this direction. In July, Berkeley approved the use of transportation personnel to conduct traffic stops. The City of San Francisco has also previously expressed interest in alternative methods of speeding enforcement. Oakland is also now working on strategies to provide for options beyond using an armed officer for these situations. But allowing cities flexibility for these solutions requires a change in State law in California.
The California Legislature needs to assist municipalities like Oakland and Berkeley and beyond with more flexibility to innovate as we address this danger on Oakland’s streets. Alternative traffic enforcement is one place where that assistance could begin. The Legislature needs to amend State laws, to allow cities the discretion to use methods for speeding enforcement that are fairer and more effective.
SFMTA efforts for an Automated Speed Enforcement Project:
The 2020 Oakland City Council race gets stranger and stranger as documents show (it’s always “documents show”, huh) that the Alameda Labor Council and the AFL-CIO have formed a committee called “Oakland 2020 Committee to Replace Lynette Gibson McElhaney And Elect Carroll Fife and Rebecca Kaplan to the Oakland City Council, sponsored by Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO”. (For those of you who need a map, Lynette Gibson McElhaney is the currrent Oakland District Three Councilmember and Rebecca Kaplan is the current At Large Councilmember and President Of The Oakland City Council.)
According to the page I found on the Open Disclosure Oakland website, the organization has raised $293,000 to date. The contributors are all, strangely, union:
Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC Small Contribution Committee — — 95814 $90000 2020-09-10
Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC Small Contribution Committee — — 95814 $82000 2020-09-10
Unity PAC a Sponsored Committee of the Alameda Labor Council AFL-CIO Committee — — 94621 $50000 2020-09-16
Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Candidate PAC Small Contribution Committee — — 95814 $30000 2020-09-01
Unity PAC a Sponsored Committee of the Alameda Labor Council AFL-CIO Committee — — 94621 $25000 2020-08-20
Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 104 Political Committee Committee — — 94583 $5000 2020-09-07
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS LOCAL 595 PAC Small Contribution Committee — — 94568 $5000 2020-09-03
Steamfitters Local 342 Political Action Committee Committee — — 94518 $5000 2020-08-27
ESC Local 20 IFPTE Lou Lucivero Legislative Education & Action Program (LEAP) Sponsored by Engineers & Scientists of California Local 20 Committee — — 94607 $1000 2020-09-07
I write “strangely, union” because there’s no other contributor listed.
Conversation With Carroll Fife – Progressive For Oakland City Council, District 3
The Alameda Labor Council’s slate card shows, with respect to Oakland and the City Council races, the following choices:
Dan Kalb for District One
Carroll Fife (with no rank-choice #2, which normally would include the incumbent) for District Three
Noel Gallo for District Five
Treva Reid and Marchon Tatmon – Dual Endorsement for District 7
Rebecca Kaplan for At Large
For the Oakland School Board, the union group picked Sam Davis, VanCedric Williams, Michael Hutchinson, Ben Tapscott, and Measure QQ and Measure Y.
What’s Really Up With The Alameda Labor Council / AFL-CIO Union’s Decision To Back Carroll Fife Over Lynette Gibson McElhaney?
Oakland Councilmember Lynette Gibson Mcelhaney
But the decision to back Carroll Fife over Councilmember McElhaney is the focus of talk around town. While others have a point of view that reflects the sour taste of last year’s California State Democratic Convention outcome and the idea that the unions are trying to “take out” black women (an interesting view considering the backing of Fife and also Jovanka Beckles), I think it has more to do with Bernie Sanders.
Carroll Fife and a number of members of the Alameda Labor Council were big time Bernie Sanders backers, whereas Lynette’s a supporter of Joe Biden for President (and Fife has not come out in open support of Biden, even as he’s the Democratic Party leader and former SF District Attorney Kamela Harris is his running mate). And the Alameda Labor Council’s office space was used to help Fife during the Moms 4 Housing effort.
Still, the ties between the 2019 California Democratic Party election where Los Angeles labor leader Rusty Hicks won the party chair position, and held off a powerful drive from Richmond activist Kimberly Ellis, and the current Oakland City Council race, are not to be denied. There’s a lot of state-wide bad blood between a number of black female elected officials and the largely white AFL-CIO in the wake of Ellis’ loss. Last year, Both Lynette and Kimberly served on the board of Black Elected Officials Of The East Bay, with McElhaney, as Special Advisor to the Board according to The Oakland Post. (Note, Ellis texted me via Facebook “I was hired as a consultant to the org, I never served on its board.” A point of information not reflected in the year-old Oakland Post entry which served as reference.)
Carroll Fife should be careful who she partners with in this race. Her approach thus far is to discriminate in seeking political partnerships rather than cast a big tent and sell herself, explaining why she’s the best candidate, and to everyone, of every stripe. That strategy does not serve any elected official well when it comes to deal-making in office. Just consider how some in the Oakland City Council reacted to the allegedly immature behavior of one newcomer when that person did not get their way after a vote. That person’s efforts were largely marginalized during the last session.
Plus, Carroll could wind up being looked at as against any black woman who’s not exactly aligned with her agenda. At a time when a number of black women in California politics feel like they’re under attack, that’s not a good position for Ms. Fife to be in, and could be used against her in a big way. It is also a bad look for the Alameda Labor Council to have: the appearance of picking and choosing black female candidates in the wake of the Hicks / Ellis vote of last year. Indeed, it’s a problem that extends even to Kamala Harris herself.
The Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate is a part of the SF Bay Area Political Family, and so is very well known. I first met her in 2007, and even met up at Harry’s Bar on Fillmore for an early dinner. But, as her political career grew, it took on a pattern that many black women in the SF Bay Area Political Family don’t see as beneficial to them. Famed local lawyer Pamela Price put it this way in her blog:
In California politics, with very few exceptions, Kamala has not supported progressive Black women running for office. In 2017 and again, in 2019, we fought to elect Kimberly Ellis as the Chairwoman of the California Democratic Party. Kamala did not support Kimberly Ellis in 2017 or 2019.
In 2018, 2 Black women ran for Oakland Mayor. Kamala did not support either one of us. In the 2018 race for Assembly District 15 to represent Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond and West Contra Costa County, there were 3 Black women running for State Assembly. Kamala did not support any of them. As a result, today, there are no Black representatives from the Bay Area in the California Legislature.
In three local races in 2018, Oakland Mayor, Assembly District 15 and Alameda County District Attorney, Kamala provided major support for all of the white women who won.
The Lesson: Make Friends With Everyone, And Not Just A Small Group Of People You Like
Oakland’s real problem is that too many so-called progressive and democratic socialist candidates are also too eager to make enemies where they really don’t exist. I am calculating the over-under on when this post of mine will be mischaracterized for political gain. One will say it’s anti-Lynette and the other anti-Carroll, and someone else will come up with some other crap. All will be wrong. Note: it’s a trap!
Word of warning: you’re elected to serve all of the people of your district, not just the ones you like.
UPDATE:
Oakland District Three Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney posted this entry on Facebook, tagging myself and this post:
Update on Rebecca Kaplan’s Call for the City of Oakland to Open Health-Compliant Clean Air Cooling Centers. Response to City Administration Report to be heard September 15 at 1:30pm
Oakland – On August 26, 2020, I shared with you my ongoing efforts to request the Oakland City Administration to open health-compliant Clean Air Cooling Centers, to protect public health on days of extreme heat and excess air pollution. Since then, we have continued to experience dangerous air quality. In the last few days, Oakland has seen hazy orange skies with falling ash, putting the health of the public at risk. We are asked to spare the air, and when outside, wear protective masks and limit our time outdoors. But not everyone has access to the resources needed in this challenging situation. Unfortunately, to date, the city has yet to open clean air centers.
We cannot ignore that many are without adequate shelter, clean air spaces or protective masks. When the administration had still not opened the previously-requested safe clean air facilities, I took action to schedule a report to Council on the progress, and any further steps needed, so both the Council and the public could hear from the administration about what has been setup, and what additional plans have been made. The report I requested from the City Administration will be heard at the Tuesday, September 15th City Council meeting, which takes place on zoom starting at 1:30pm.
To observe the meeting by video conference, please click on this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86525566247
Click here to view the FULL AGENDA & more Viewing meeting information
The report they have submitted to the agenda, lacks the information requested and it appears to disclose that they have not opened any clean air buildings despite many days of heavy smoke and high heat, and from the report, we cannot tell if any buildings have been made ready to open, nor have they provided information about what is needed to open them. The standards the administration mentions planning to use seem designed to avoid opening them, despite serious impacts to public health.
I have followed up with a supplemental memo, calling for further action to protect the health of our community, including to ensure such facilities are prepared and actually are opened when needed, and sharing my prior email with the administration about this. I am proposing that we give direction to the Administration to return to Council with the following:
What facilities are prepared to open for these uses?
What programs have been set up for masks and other protective equipment distribution?
What steps or funds are needed to achieve these goals?
Direction for a policy of opening them in a way that is protective of our community and public health.
Oakland must be prepared with clean air safe spaces for people, including for those who are unhoused or lack other options. The City must have a way to respond when we have smoke or air quality warnings or excess heat. Wildfires and the accompanying poor air quality can, and should have been, anticipated. In July, when I reminded the City Administration on the record, it was prior to the start of the traditional fire season, there was time to prepare. Experience has taught us to expect that there will be more fires. We needed to ensure we were prepared to have all of our community be protected in these situations.
In fact, last summer, when libraries were closed to the public during high heat bad air days, due to inadequate HVAC equipment, I reached out to start a process to identify and fund solutions to allow for our vital public facilities to be safe places during times of high heat and bad air quality. In recent budget deliberations, I sought funding to ensure that public facilities can be prepared to safely accommodate public needs, including being COVID-compliant, having adequate filtration, and being able to provide respite from high heat and bad air quality.
Please join me at the September 15th Council meeting to advocate for all of Oakland to have a safe space to breath and gain relief from the heat.
Councilmember At-Large Rebecca Kaplan is an honors graduate from MIT, and holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Kaplan was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember, she was re-elected in 2016.
While not my first choice for the Oakland City Council At-Large Seat occupied by Rebecca Kaplan (whom I endorsed) Derreck Johnson is a new face on the Oakland Political Scene, even though he is a third-generation black Oaklander. I told him that because my first introduction to him was via an email from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, I considered him a Manchurian candidate caught up in the 10-year-war between my godsister the Mayor and Councilmember Kaplan.
Derreck Johnson should be congratulated for his Chicken and Waffles business, which was successful in that he managed to employ black ex-prisoners. Sadly, he had to file for bankruptcy, then later and during the campaign, suffer from institutional racism on the part of the website Oaklandside, which seemed to delight in asserting that he wasn’t successful only because he filed for bankruptcy! That was both racial profiling and nasty, considering we have a POTUS who’s filed many bankruptcies and yet is considered very successful. But, there again, is the signal that it’s OK to have a blemish on your business record and still allow yourself to say you’re successful if you’re white, but not if you’re black. Not cool, man. Not right. Not cool.
In closing, there must be a truly aggressive black-ran media that points out racism in media. The media practice done to Derreck feeds an ugly desire among some, and not just white, in America, who refuse to see and present a black person in a positive light, and literally hunger for bad news about us.
In this case, some who are white, just could not accept that my actions were out of anger for the racist Oaklandside post, and first assumed that I was backing Derreck Johnson, when I openly said I was supporting Rebecca Kaplan and did not know Derreck prior to my interview with him, and then, on their own, guessed that Derreck, Mayor Schaaf, and I all went to Skyline High School together.
When a friend of mine who’s white texted me with that question about Skyline High School (where I am Class of 80 and Libby is Class of 1981), I called and let him know how upset with him I was. I said “You can’t accept the fact that my concern for what was written about him was purely because I perceived it as racist, huh? Do you realize that’s racist?”
As my friend is prone to do, he laughs nervously and tries to change the subject, but this time I kept focus. The problem was the Oaklandside post was truly institutionally racist, and it doesn’t matter what a person thinks to the contrary, even if they’re black. In Oakland, too many of us black folks are too willing to put down someone else black anyway – it’s a crabbarrel problem of massive proportions that helps no one.
The fact is that, according to Derreck himself, he went to Bishop O’Dowd High School, not Skyline High School. And so that leads back to my point: the desire to not see a racist act and deflect eyes from view keeps it as justifiable. That’s what my friend was trying to do, and he needs to stop doing it. As I said to him “We can’t allow a point of view like yours to fester because, little by little, these racist stories build up, until we get George Floyd all over again.”
No more racial profiling in media. If Derreck’s run has done anything, it’s shown a spotlight on that problem. It has to stop.
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.
Oakland – Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan has been urging the City to take action to acquire available buildings, such as SROs, hotels, and dormitories, to help house the homeless. The Council unanimously passed Kaplan’s resolution on March 27, 2020, urging rapid action on this due to the growing COVID-19 crisis, and to protect those most vulnerable in our community.
Today, the Oakland City Council held a Special Council Meeting to approve the acquisition of a dormitory to help house those in need, and to apply for the State of California’s Homekey grant program. Council President Kaplan is pleased to announce that she and her colleagues unanimously voted to send applications to the state and to authorize a deal to purchase the California College of the Arts (CCA) Clifton Hall dormitory.
The Clifton Hall dorm is a four story building, with 63 units, in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland. On the top two floors of the building, Clifton Hall will provide 42 units of permanent housing for seniors experiencing homelessness and at high risk of contracting COVID-19. The second floor will become the permanent home for a 20-household family shelter. On the ground floor, the building will house the offices of Family Front Door, which serves as the hub for the Coordinated Entry System (CES) for homeless families in Northern Alameda County.
Kaplan stated: “It is vital that we take action to respond to the homelessness crisis, prevent the spread of disease, and protect our community, including vulnerable seniors. I am pleased that we were able to work together to pass vital actions, to make it possible to acquire this dorm, and other properties, to help those in need.”
Link to the Item on the August 28th Council Agenda, to acquire this dorm:
With spread of COVID, bad air and displacement we must protect our community. Authored budget action and Council resolution, directing the admin to acquire buildings to house the homeless. https://t.co/5jekdiDiZn Have obtained an SRO, and planning actions to acquire dorms, etc.
— Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland Vice Mayor (@Kaplan4Oakland) August 26, 2020
OAKLAND COUNCIL PRESIDENT REBECCA KAPLAN DENOUNCES PENCE’S LIES ABOUT A WHITE SUPREMACIST MURDER IN OAKLAND
Oakland – Vice President Mike Pence’s speech during the Republican National Convention contained deeply misleading statements regarding the horrific murder of Dave Patrick Underwood in Oakland. According to the investigation, Mr. Underwood was killed by Steven Carrillo, a follower of the Boogaloo Boys— a right-wing extremist movement connected with white supremacists. Pence wrongly attempted to tie this killing to the Black Lives Matter movement, which, in fact, had no involvement in the killing.
Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan denounced Pence’s lie, “There was a white supremacist murder in Oakland – and it is disgusting and wrong for anyone, especially the Vice President, to try to blame the Black Lives Matter movement. Mr. Underwood tragic murder was not part of any demonstration, but an act of a violent, armed white supremacist.”
Oakland joins the rest of the country in mourning the senseless, tragic murders, and oppression of Black Lives. Oakland has its own tragic loss of life with the murder of Patrick Underwood, a Federal Protective Services officer with deep ties in Oakland. It should be made clear that the culprits who killed Mr. Underwood had nothing to do with the peaceful protests in honor of Black lives.
Pence’s lies attempt to discredit important movements for social justice, and to move blame away from violent white supremacist murder. Communities are put in greater danger when white supremacist murder is excused or blamed on others — while the President and Vice President continue to encourage violent killings by their supporters. Our communities deserve better, and the lies of the Vice President should be denounced by all people of conscience.
As has been reported previously:
“Steven Carrillo, a California man who was charged with murder, scrawled phrases tied to an online far-right extremist movement in blood on a car shortly before he was detained…. Elements of The Boogaloo have evolved from a gathering of militia enthusiasts and Second Amendment advocates into a full-fledged violent extremist group, which inspires lone wolf actors and cell-like actors alike.”
ONN – Alameda County Democratic Party Oakland City Council At Large Candidates Debate 2020
Moderated by former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, this debate features the incumbent Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan against two challengers: Nancy Sidebotham, and Derrick Johnson.
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.
Oakland – This week, Robert Warshaw, The Federal Monitor over the Oakland Police Department released a new report, detailing deception and cover-up at the top of OPD. As many in Oakland’s communities work against police misconduct, we face the institutional leaders that cover-up those actions.
“OPD’s initial press releases and our early conversations with Chief Kirkpatrick and others raised serious concerns that the Department had concluded that the shooting was justified even before its investigations were complete.”
Mr. Warshaw’s report shines a light on OPD, former Chief of Police Anne Kirkpatrick, and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for failing to properly investigate the shooting. According to the report, former Chief Kirkpatrick displayed bias from the start of the investigation, rather than the appropriate objectivity required of her, stating the night that Mr. Pawlik was killed, the shooting “looked good.” In OPD’s investigation, they failed to look at the video evidence and relied heavily on the officers’ account of the events. The Oakland Police Commission was the only aspect of the investigation process that functioned as designed, bringing objectivity and professionalism into the proceedings.
Oakland has had a long history of police misconduct and failure to properly investigate. This has caused the Oakland community to demand that there be greater police accountability. The Compliance Monitor’s report on the Pawlik killing and OPD’s unprofessional investigation that followed such a significant use of force highlights the need for the Oakland Police Commission to be independent and effective, as a civilian oversight body, that is separate from the police chain of command. Oakland voters will have the opportunity to support this independence with the Police Commission ballot measure on the November ballot.
Several months ago, former OPD Chief Kirkpatrick denounced the independent Police Commission, which had disagreed with her handling of the Pawlik investigation. This Federal Monitor report shows that Kirkpatrick’s statements were incorrect, and the Police Commission’s efforts to seek a full and fair investigation are vindicated.
Link to Shooting of Joshua Pawlik by Oakland Police Officers: A Report of the Monitor/Compliance Director:
The Oakland Police Commission needs our help. 1. When the November mail-in ballots come out, look for the as-yet-unnamed charter amendment strengthening the power and increasing the funding for the Oakland Police Commission. Tell your friends and neighbors to vote for it. 2. Now: contact your council member and the City Council President, At Large … Read more
Oakland Elections 2020, City Council, OUSD School Board, Who Qualilfied For The Ballot, Who Didn’t ONN – Oakland Elections 2020, City Council, OUSD School Board, Who Qualilfied For The Ballot, Who Didn’t The Oakland Election 2020 Season now goes into full gear, as all of the signatures for the would-be candidates have been submitted and … Read more
