12:43 P.M. EST MS. PSAKI: Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. I have quite a few things at the top, but then we will take plenty of questions. I wanted to take a moment, at the top of our briefing today, to note that on this day, 21 years ago, President Clinton announced the naming of the … Read more
AC Transit Double Decker: BART Bus Bridge Del Norte-Richmond From YouTube Channel: January 23, 2021 at 11:53PM ONN – Double decker AC Transit buses on a BART bus bridge during weekend closures of richmond station for track work Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live operation of … Read more
City Councilmember Dan Kalb and Mayor Libby Schaaf Introduce Legislation to Improve Public Health, Enhance Safety and Reduce Carbon Emissions by Requiring New Construction to Be All-Electric UPDATE: Oakland City Council Natural Gas Ban Will Cause More Gentrification City Councilmember Dan Kalb and Mayor Libby Schaaf Introduce Legislation to Improve Public Health, Enhance Safety and … Read more
PART 2 TYRANTS GET PHYSICAL IN RICHMOND, CA!!! ✋? FIRST AMENDMENT AUDIT From YouTube Channel: November 25, 2020 at 10:14AM ONN – Bay Area Transparency On YouTube Faces Richmond Police Bullies Who Violate His Rights And in the video, the sergeant disses Richmond Mayor Tom Butt. FIRST AMENDMENT AUDIT IN RICHMOND, CA AND THE SGT. … Read more
Ben Bartlett and the Berkeley City Council Introduces Legislation on Group Violence Intervention (GVI) Program – to address Gun Violence in the Community
Berkeley – Berkeley has been experiencing an alarming rise in shootings throughout the City. This year alone, there have been more than 30 shootings, including one occurring on the night of October 21, 2020 that tragically left a woman gravely injured in a drive-by shooting on Prince Street in South Berkeley.
“The recent heartbreaking gun violence must come to an end, and I am ready to work collaboratively with our community in developing an effective program to achieve that goal,” Mayor Jesse Arreguin said.
Today, Councilmember Bartlett introduced urgent legislation and is calling on the City to establish a Group Violence Intervention Program (GVI), or “Operation Ceasefire,” which will assemble an inter-jurisdictional working group of law enforcement agencies, community members, and support services providers to address the cascading cycles of gun violence.
Co-sponsored by Mayor Arreguin and Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani, the item will be discussed at today’s City Council meeting if approved to be agendized. “By looking at the success of similar programs in other cities and catering it towards the needs of Berkeley, we can develop safe communities together,” Mayor Arreguin said.
Specifically, the program will identify young adults (ages 18-30) who are at greatest risk of being involved in gun violence, develop an intervention team to communicate directly and respectfully to at-risk individuals, implement an intervention plan to provide wrap-around and support services, and create a public education campaign to promote these efforts.
In cities throughout the country, GVI has proven to be an effective tool for reducing homicides and strengthening trust between community members and law enforcement. The City has the power to act now to develop its own GVI program to address the tragic rise in shootings and homicides plaguing our city.
In recognition of the interlocking geographic nature of those committing gun crimes as well as their victims, the GVI program will be centered on Berkeley. However, it should also be connected to and work in concert with community workers in neighboring jurisdictions including Oakland, Richmond, Antioch, and San Francisco.
“GVI aligns with our goals of reimagining policing, and is a more robust version of the Specialized Care Unit envisioned in the George Floyd Community Safety Act,” Councilmember Bartlett said. “The program also paves the way for greater regional collaboration, protecting communities from gun violence in Berkeley and across the Bay Area. People have put in years of work developing this model. Let’s raise up the community’s efforts and create lasting peace in the streets. Our children deserve to be safe.”
Possibly the first day of service for some of these cars
10/23/2020
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.
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:
Black Experimental Dance|Night Projects#4| Old Oakland
From YouTube Channel: September 10, 2020 at 05:30PM
ONN – #oakland #bayarea #sanfrancisco #california #eastbay #hiphop #berkeley #losangeles #music #raidernation #raiders #sacramento #sf #sanjose #rap #oaklandraiders #lasvegas #life #oaklandcalifornia #richmond #rn #sanleandro #l #vallejo #newyork #atlanta #hayward #justwinbaby #lasvegasraiders #bhfyp
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.
Vallejo Police Association Says New Cases Bring Total 2020 Murder Cases to 21, On Pace to be Worst Murder Year in History
Vallejo, CA – Vallejo Police officers are investigating two new murder cases that occurred overnight, according the Vallejo Police Officers Association. The total number of murders in Vallejo now stands at 21, putting the city on a pace to break the worst year on record for murders. In 1994, 30 murders occurred, the highest in city history.
Preliminary reports indicate that around 8:15 p.m. last night, September 2, officers heard gunshots and headed to 201 Maine Street. They searched the area and found bullet casings near Maine and Sacramento Streets. Nearby they found a male suffering from gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Just after midnight today, September 3, police received a call of gunshots fired in the 100 block of Adele. On arrival officers saw what appeared to be a vehicle collision. Further examination found the cars with a barrage of bullet holes. It appears multiple people may have been shot. One person was transported to the hospital by relatives where he died. Just this week, members of the Vallejo Police Officers? Association (VPOA) demanded the City and Police Chief fully staff and fund VPD to provide levels comparable to other major cities in the Bay Area.
The City is applying a Band-Aid to a serious murder and crime spree when it should be taking long-term actions to correct a life-threatening situation for Vallejo citizens, VPOA said.
The VPOA welcomed the temporary assignment of California Highway Patrol officers to assist the under-staffed and under-funded Vallejo Police Department battle this crime and murder spree. The VPOA praised this last week?s announcement by the Mayor of help from the CHP, but said the City needs to live up to its public safety commitments. The Police Department struggles every day to get a minimum number of officers on the street during each of its three shifts.
The City should have a minimum of eight officers on the street during non-peak hours and 13 during peak workload times. But due to severe staffing limitations, there are generally no more than six officers on the street at any given time in a city of over 120,000. Vallejo of icers respond to approximately 225 911 calls every day. Oakland and Richmond have roughly double the number of police officers per 1,000 residents than Vallejo.
Statistics show Vallejo has just 0.87 officers per 1,000 residents while Oakland has 1.70 officers and Richmond has 1.63 officers per 1,000 residents. The average number of officers per 1,000 population in California is 2.34.
Right now Vallejo police officers are forced to work overtime shifts of up to 16 hours at a time because of chronic understaffing. Fatigue from such long hours results in dangerous working conditions and adversely impacts citizen safety.
Further, the recent Federal grant to hire another eight officers only makes the staffing deficit greater.
The City has funded 122 officers for 10 years and but has yet to see that number actually employed.
Most importantly, the grant does nothing to attract qualified applicants, especially those officers from other agencies that have training and experience that allow them to immediately police the streets of Vallejo instead of going through over a year of training. An independent report from the OIR Group commissioned by the City and released in June says that the Vallejo Police Department?s ?numbers remain well below the peak staffing levels that preceded 2008. There are other residual difficulties as well: salaries are below the market average, the workload is highly demanding, forced overtime is routine. All these factors make it difficult to attract and retain excellent officers.?
The VPOA needs the City and the Police Chief to stand up and take action now to address public safety. The VPOA represents the 105 sworn members of the Department.
Anyone with information about these most recent homicides or any of the homicides that have occurred this year are encouraged to call the Vallejo Police Department Detective Division at (707) 649-5459.
Delegates will cast their nominating votes from cities, locations, and landmarks all across the nation MILWAUKEE—The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) today the Americans who will cast their official nominating votes for president of the United States during tonight’s “Roll Call Across America.” The roll call vote will take place under tonight’s theme, “Leadership Matters,” and spotlight those who … Read more
Senator Bernie Sanders, Congressman Cedric Richmond featured in convention segment “We the People Recovering” MILWAUKEE—Tonight at the Democratic National Convention, Americans shared their vision of a future where our nation’s leaders once again look out for the middle class, and bring access to affordable health care, housing, and education within reach for hardworking families. The … Read more
Bike Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, Richmond: new trail behind Golden Gate Fields From YouTube Channel: July 22, 2020 at 06:30AM ONN – 2020-06-20: parts of a 33 mile ride to check out the new path behind the Golden Gate Fields. Note from Zennie62Media and Oakland News Now: this video-blog post demonstrates the full and live … Read more
Angie Dance – Miss Art Deco 2007 At The REAF Richmond Ermet AIDS Foundation Benefit – SF ONN – Angie Dance – Miss Art Deco 2007 At The REAF Richmond Ermet AIDS Foundation Benefit – SF Angie Dance is an accomplished dancer and dance instructor in San Francisco, who I met at the 2007 REAF … Read more
Oakland/Richmond PD Critical Incident Video, Officer-Involved Shooting – April 16th, 2020 ONN – On April 16, 2020, the Oakland Police Department and the Richmond Police Department were involved in an officer-involved shooting that occurred in the City of Richmond. When the Department has a critical incident involving our officers, we believe in transparency with our … Read more
Georgia Police Officer Stacy Talbert AKA Officer Karen Of Egg McMuffin Order Meltdown, Not Richmond PD The Georgia Police Officer Stacy Talbert, Called “Officer Karen” and “Crying Cop” For Egg McMuffin Order Meltdown, Wasn’t A Richmond Hill Police Department Officer. The Richmond Hill Georgia Police Department wrote the following: “We have received multiple phone calls … Read more
Georgia Police Officer Stacey Has Meltdown Over McDonalds Egg McMuffin Order, Called “Officer Karen” ONN – Police Officer Stacey Has Meltdown Over McDonalds Egg McMuffin Richmond Hill Georgia Order, Called “Officer Karen” Filed under “officer stacey has meltdown over mcdonalds mcmuffin order”. This 15-year police veteran needs a hug and some time off. A … Read more
Confederate statue torn down in Richmond, Virginia ONN – Jefferson Davis Confederate Statue Torn Down In Richmond, Virginia A statue of Jefferson Davis was torn down along Richmond, Virginia’s famed Monument Avenue on Wednesday night. The statue of the president of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11 p.m., news outlets reported. (June 11) Subscribe … Read more
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) introduced a bill to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol. The bill, the Confederate Monument Removal Act, originally introduced by Congresswoman Lee in 2017 in the wake of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, would remove all statues of people who … Read more
No Coal In Oakland Misses Fact 1996 SF Bay Seaport Plan Called For New Bulk Terminal ONN – No Coal In Oakland Misses Fact 1996 SF Bay Seaport Plan Called For New Bulk Terminal “No Coal In Oakland”, the non-profit financed by the Sierra Club and Tom Steyer, has a tendency to base its views … Read more
Let’s get this out of the way: I love Google and have literally moved through Adulthood with the search engine. I recall first learning about it in 1998, through a friend, in Oakland. At the time, I was working as Economic Advisor to Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris, and that thing called “The Internet” was still … Read more
Oakland Police Chief Kirkpatrick Fired By Mayor Schaaf Night Before Police Commission Meeting ONN – Oakland Police Chief Kirkpatrick Fired By Mayor Schaaf Night Before Police Commission Meeting Oakland – The official byline behind the firing of Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick goes like this: On Thursday, February 20, 2020, the Oakland Police Commission voted … Read more
Richmond City Council Member Jovanka Beckles joined a tour on Friday, Sept. 28, of the brand-new Miraflores affordable senior housing complex in Richmond. A delighted Jovanka Beckles joined celebratory community leaders who explained the long drawn-out, complicated and challenging process to bring this stunning new complex of 100 one bedroom units into being. “We didn’t … Read more
Jovanka Beckles Thrilled 92-year-old Lela Madison Will Be Home Press Conference to be held 12:30 p.m., August 23, Richmond Court House Early Saturday, June 23, 2018, Richmond City Councilmember Jovanka Beckles abruptly got out of bed responding to a call for help. Mrs. Lela Madison, 92-year-old Richmond resident and retired nurse, was sitting disconsolate on … Read more
