On Friday, just after Art Murmur / First Friday for October, someone reportedly shot into a crowd at 14th and Broadway in Downtown Oakland. That’s right at BART 12th Street, Oakland City Center Station, and where I normally catch a cab – not any more.
A woman was shot, and two others injured, but most scary of all, no arrests were made, and the shooter’s still at large. In other words, running around free to shoot someone else.
And while that shooting was going on, it wasn’t the only one. Cue East Oakland around 106th:
Oakland police source says there has been a deadly shooting near 106th and 580 tonight.
— Randee Deason (@2hip4tv) October 5, 2013
And this tweet from that Friday, October 4th reads that the shooting, which happened at 1:30 AM, was caused over, of all things, a bump:
#Oakland: Man Says Bump Caused First Friday Fatal Shooting http://t.co/YgQRmP7xa5
— Bay City News (@BayCityNews1) October 5, 2013
The bottom line is, avoid large gatherings of people you don’t know at First Fridays / Art Murmur. If you recall, Kiante Campbell was murdered in the middle of a large gathering of people. But the other bottom line is that we have to get guns out of Oakland: an objective made much harder by former Oakland Mayor and California Governor Jerry Brown’s raid on Oakland’s Redevelopment money.
In the case of the East Oakland news, it was actually two incidents. The Contra Costa Times (where’s the Oakland Tribune?) reports that one man was hit in the back during a drive-by shooting and as he had entered a gas station at High and International Blvd., and the other was stabbed after telling the man with the knife he didn’t have any money.
To be frank, it’s not that the crime rate in Oakland is at an all-time high, and its a problem, but that social media makes the reporting of more occurrences possible.
And then there’s the pedestrian hits:
inSF: Pedestrian Seriously Hurt In Hit-And-Run Near Oakland’s Lake Merritt: OAKLAND (CBS SF) — A pedestrian su… http://t.co/L7YWNjFdRp
— Ken Pulverman (@kpOracleFusion) October 5, 2013
Bottom line: when the clock strikes 1 AM in Oakland, get your ass home via taxi, or stay inside or at a bar or eatery, and also stay out of East Oakland. Don’t drink and drive. And avoid large crowd gatherings on the street at Art Murmur / First Friday.
Oakland A’s Beat Detroit Tigers 1-0 In ALDS Game 2
A fun game to watch, and The A’s Stephen Vogt got a pie-in-the-face:
Can Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis Be Trusted?
On Tuesday, the Oakland City Council takes up the request by Bay Investment Group to land an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement with the City of Oakland and the Oakland Coliseum Joint Powers Authority to develop “Coliseum City,” which will include a new stadium for the Oakland Raiders.
Oakland City Administrator Fred Blackwell and Oakland City Councilmember Larry Reid (District Seven) have worked hard to gain the involvement of Rashid Al Malik, and Colony Capital LLC. But the wild card, as it turns out, is Oakland Raiders Owner Mark Davis.
The son of Al Davis is sending out signals that he can’t be trusted to represent the Raiders true interest in keeping the team in Oakland. First, one friend of mine who’s involved in all this, says “The Raiders are at the table. That’s all I can say,” when I asked about the past reports that indicate a possible move to Los Angeles. That talk was last week.
Now, comes news that Mark Davis has looked at land outside of Concord to possibly build a new stadium over at the Concord Naval Weapons Station. That aside, Mark Davis has to send a message that he’s really interested in the prospects of building an Oakland-based stadium for the Raiders.
It begs the question: why would Mark Davis go out to Concord now, when a viable group has been assembled? Does he have something against Middle Eastern-born American investors?
Well? Does he?
Yes, I put that out there, because the timing of Mark Davis’ behavior is very, very questionable. If you’re working on the Coliseum City project, it makes you want to put your fist throw the wall. Davis’ overall actions are head-scratchers, too: like asking for a billion-dollar stadium to be just 50,000 seats in size, thereby making it that much harder to work financially. It’s almost as if he wants a certain stadium, and if he doesn’t get it, regardless of how economically unrealistic it is, he’s walking away.
Mark Davis had to know that the Concord visit would be picked up by someone in the media. The move sends a new signal: Davis can and will move the Raiders, either to LA or to Concord, if the opportunity is right.
Mayor Quan Can’t Hide At A’s Playoff Game
When you’re the Mayor of Oakland, you can’t hide, especially at the Oakland A’s – Detroit Tigers ALDS Playoff Game. Check out these Twitter tweets:
Just saw Mayor @jeanquan guzzling down some ice cream in a Luxury Box when entering Section 326 at the @Athletics game
— Brian DeLuca (@bdeluca03) October 6, 2013
Oakland mayor Jean Quan just walked by wearing a purple dress to an As Postseason game. LOL…at least she didn't wear DET colors.
— Alice (@FattyGoesNomNom) October 6, 2013
Gene Hazzard Lands Lawyer For New Attack On Oakland Army Base
Gene Hazzard, who launched an angry legal attack on California Capital Group Managing Partner Phil Tagami and the Oakland Army Base Project, lost that battle, but he’s not out of it. According to a friend of mine and Gene’s, he’s decided not to play lawyer, and has successfully landed a real one. And that unidentified person or group is not taking Gene’s money; it’s on contengency, which implies they think they can win a big money lawsuit.
Here’s my talk with Gene in March of this year about his issues with the Army Base:
Meanwhile, Oakland Trucker Bill Aboudi has been evicted from the Oakland Army Base under court order. He reportedly owes his workers something like $1 million in back wages, though that’s not the reason for the eviction. It’s to make room for Tagami’s development, and not personal to Bill Aboudi. He’s had a year to do it.
Think Bill Aboudi will team up with Gene Hazzard?
Oakland Chamber Poll Shows Most Don’t Know Who Represents Them
The Oakland Chamber of Commerce poll that shows Oakland Mayor Jean Quan with giant disapproval ratings from a mostly white audience, also show that the same mostly white audience, or about over 65 percent of them on the average, don’t even know who their elected city council representatives are.
For Councilmembers Pat Kernighan (District Two), Libby Schaaf (District Four), Desley Brooks (District Six), and Courtney Ruby (City Auditor) that’s dangerous, except that in Desley’s case, the rate drops to 57 percent, and while her unfavorable rating is higher at 26 percent, remember that half the survey respondents were white, and only seven percent were black.
Ironically, Council President Kernighan did Brooks a favor when she tried to censure her and it backfired this year. It fired up the Oakland District Six black community, as well as much of Oakland’s black adult population, and they turned out in force to support her.
There’s no reason to think that will not happen in 2014, and that’s something the Chamber poll doesn’t capture because of its racially-skewed population base.
But the bottom line here is that the Oakland City Council incumbents have to run as if they’re meeting their constituents for the first time, and that’s because, for the most part, they are.
Seeking A Vegan Guest Blogger
Say, if you’re into Vegan cuisine and live in Oakland, I’d like to have you as a guest blogger. You can blog about your favorite places to go in Oakland, or your own business. Just email me at [email protected].
Lynette Gibson McElhaney Gets My Twitter Award
I just create an Oakland Political Twitter award, and the first winner is Oakland’s District Three City Council Member Lynette Gibson McElhaney. She actively uses Twitter to communicate legislative proposals and connect with her constituents, of which I am one of them. Here are some examples:
What's up with redistricting in The Town? Join the League of Women Voters on Wed. Oct. 9th from 6-8pm @ #Oakland City Hall to learn more!
— L.Gibson McElhaney (@LynetteGM) October 3, 2013
And her latest effort with Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker to stop illegal dumping:
The McElhaney/Parker Illegal Dumping Ordinance will be presented at tonight's #Oakland City Council Meeting #oakmtg https://t.co/mtJ8IgToYW
— L.Gibson McElhaney (@LynetteGM) October 1, 2013
And which I think is a good idea, but will not stop the problem. This video I created at Palm and Euclid in Oakland shows that, according to the man I talked to, illegal dumping is a problem throughout the state of California:
Latham Square On Twitter
Latham Square is the new area formed by closing off Telegraph Avenue betweeen 16th and where Broadway and Telegraph meet in Downtown Oakland (or trying to). It now has a Twitter account at @lathamsquare. Maybe this City of Oakland effort to kill it can be reversed:
The City has taken its first step towards killing off Latham Square. #RIP #Oakland #bikeOAK pic.twitter.com/6Q65hWKnRF
— Christopher Kidd (@BikeBlogChris) October 1, 2013
Take the survey (link here) and support the maintenance of Latham Square.
Better Sex Ed In Oakland High Schools
According to this Twitter tweet, Oakland non-profit Forward Together is pushing for sex ed in Oakland high schools:
Sex Ed in the City: Oakland Students Campaign for Better Sex Ed | Bitch Media http://t.co/ruyYg3T9lY
— monsoon iowa (@monsooniowa) October 3, 2013
Stay tuned.