The very successful Oakland Running Festival got off to a great start Sunday at Snow Park as Oakland Mayor Jean Quan lead the race countdown by ticking off the seconds in Chinese, as the Oakland Raiderettes cheered on and the song “I’m Sexy And I Know It” by LMFAO played loudly in the background.
And because the weather cleared and gave us a rainless Sunday, well for the part of the day that mattered, bands were able to play along the course route.
And as you can see the run was crowded with walkers, though it’s not known how many were actually unregistered.
And Peter Hartlaub’s son even got into the celebration by high-fiving everyone who ran by him.
Overall it was a great success and a great event for Oakland.
Joel Young To Don Hoodie For Treyvon Martin
Ok, I have to be honest here. (Not that I’ve been dishonest.) It seems a bit ill-advised to have AC Transit Board Member and California Assembly District 18 Candidate Joel Young don a Hoodie as part of a march in protest of what happened to 17-year-old Treyvon Martin, and for obvious reasons.
Take a step back and think. We have three active candidates for CA 18: Rob Bonta, Able Guillen, and Joel Young. Of the three, do you think the guy who’s accused of anger management problems would put on a Hoodie considering Geraldo Rivera’s comments about them (showing his own racism) with respect to Martin?
And that I focused on in my video here:
But with all that, or because of it, Joel Young’s going to put on a Hoodie for what is going to be his Mike Dukakis-wearing-helmet-on-a-tank moment this evening in front of Oakland City Hall. Young writes:
Friends-
Please join me tonight at a rally in support of Trayvon Martin’s family outside of City Hall in Oakland at 5:30 pm. The rally is sponsored by the NAACP Oakland Branch Imani Youth Council. Bring your hoodies, some skittles, and a soda. I hope to see you there.
– Joel
Oakland’s Emily Palen’s CD Release Party March 30th.
Oaklander and Grammy Awards participant, Emily Palen, is to hold her first CD release party this March 30th at Project one gallery and lounge at 251 Rhode Island SF CA. Here’s the Facebook page for more information: link.
Four For Mayor Of Oakland, So Far
There are at least three or four candidates in line to run for Mayor of Oakland if the recall efforts are successful: Terrance Candell, Ignacio De La Fuente, (possibly) Greg Harland, and Joe Tuman. I say “possibly” about Harland because of Greg’s famous for trying head-fakes. When he says he’s not doing something politically that’s a sure sign he’s at least thinking of doing it. Don’t count him out, even as he’s involved in the signature gathering portion of the recall process as this is written.
As for Don Perata, he now lives in Contra Costa County, so can’t run for Mayor of Oakland. Perhaps that’s why Ignacio tossed his hat into the ring.
Meanwhile, for those who may be wondering what happened to Perata Press Secretary Rhys Williams, he’s the Proposition 29 Campaign’s Online Campaign Director, drawing $60,250 so far, since June of 2011. But for that time, I gotta get on my friend Rhys to do a better job: just six YouTube videos and 626 Twitter followers? Plus, no blog separate from the website, just the website itself and no other social media platforms – like Flickr or Tout or Foursquare (good for causes), or anything else? Well, I guess all of his effort was put into Facebook: over 10,000 likes and counting.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll