Ballot Help: East Bay Regional Park District, Ward 1

(We are reprinting a letter that Paul Klein sent to some friends and neighbors about the East Bay Regional Park District, Ward 1, race, with his permission.)

On the November ballot, residents of Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Kensington, Richmond, San Pablo, parts of Oakland, and a small part of Pinole will be asked to choose between Whitney Dotson and Norman La Force to serve on the Board of Directors of The East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD, Ward 1).

Mr. Dotson is well-qualified, and is receptive to ongoing off-leash recreation in the EBRPD. Mr. La Force has a very well-established and readily verifiable track record in strident opposition to off-leash recreation in the East Bay and elsewhere; it is in fact entirely fair to state there has been no more unwavering and very loud voice than his in opposition to off-leash recreation on public land. I am to correspond about the details of Mr. La Force's record via email to rovenorth@yahoo.com.

If this issue is important to you, please spread the word about it. Vote for Dotson. La Force is the end of the world for off-leash recreation hereabouts. Too, Dotson is arguably preferable on the grounds - if no other - that he will become the sole African-American on the EBRPD BOD, as would be appropriate, to say the least, to a public agency that serves the East Bay.

Many thanks,

Paul Klein

Workshop on Restorative Justice

BayNVC, one of our neighborhood nonprofits, is asking us to help spread the word on a workshop they are hosting this weekend.

Restorative Circles Trainings
With visiting trainer Dominic Barter


Dominic Barter has traveled from Brazil and will be visiting the Bay Area November 1 - 3. He will hold two workshops on Restorative Circles. The Restorative Circles process is a restorative practice through which communities can compassionately handle conflicts, heal from these conflicts, and learn what conflicts have to teach us. His work has been informed by his experience in the Restorative Justice movement and his exploration of NVC. Restorative Circles have been used with exciting results in Brazilian schools and Brazil's juvenile justice system.


Nov 1-2, Building a Compassionate Justice System: An Introduction to Restorative Circles

Nov 3, A 1-day Restorative Systems and Circles Practicum


Space is still available in both workshops. For more information and to register please see the flyer below the video.




Workshop on Restorative Justice - Get more Business Documents

Ballot Help: Measure OO

Community leaders, including Susan Montauk and Gene Zehas, have created a Web site urging people to vote no about Measure OO.

Their key arguments are worth reproducing:

Measure OO is Unnecessary: City Council has already extended the Kids First funding for another 12 years.

Measure OO is Unfair: It would decimate city programs that serve ALL of Oakland’s population--kids, families and seniors—in favor of programs that serve only kids.

Measure OO is Fiscally Irresponsible: By doubling its share of City funds (from 2.5% to 5%) without adding new monies, it will usurp funding for important city services such as parks, recreation programs, libraries, senior services and more.

Measure OO is greedy: If passed, Measure OO would mandate an additional $16 million a year—more than the entire Parks & Recreation budget! At 5% a year, Measure OO would wreak havoc with other critical city programs:




Measure OO is Reckless: With no renewal or sunset clause, Measure OO is a permanent earmark. It locks the city into 5% of the budget a year ($26 million a year in today’s dollars) to kids’ programs FOREVER, no matter what the other demands and economic pressures on the city of Oakland.

Neighborhood Crime Meeting Recap

Thanks everyone who came to the neighborhood crime meeting. About two dozen folks showed up for a presentation by Reve Bautista and David Hall who talked about the City Attorney's new anti-crime program. (Read the Trib story on the program here.) Also, Benny Kwong, senior project director for EAH housing gave a presentation on a new development near Beat 8x. (Addresses are 616 - 620 & 634 21st Street and 635 22nd Street, 2100 Grove Street, 2126 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, 22nd and Martin Luther King Jr. Way and the a PDF with initial info is included below.) Priorities were set as (1) The homeless problem along Telegraph (22nd to 40th Street) (2) Graffiti on Broadway/Harrison/Oakland Ave (3) Drug dealing from 20th to 35th Street. Elise Ackerman was elected as the Beat 8x rotating chair. Elise said she would like to fill the role for six months and that she is hoping someone else will be able to volunteer starting in April. The main responsibility of the chair is to organize the meetings and be a point of contact for the city. In addition, the group also voted to have meetings every other month and to rotate them throughout the beat. The next meeting will be November 20th, location TBA, followed by meetings in January and March. Finally, the sign-in sheet disappeared after the meeting. If you grabbed it by accident can you please email harrioak at yahoo dot com.


EAH Housing Proposal 21st and 22nd Streets - Get more Business Documents

Hard Times In Corporate America

A friend just sent this over and while it's not exactly neighborhood news, it is funny!

Whole Foods Coupon

Here is a link to a Whole Foods Coupon, good through Oct. 21.
Or here.

Illegal Robocalls

Those annoying automated calls you are getting about various campaigns or ballot are illegal. What should you do if you get a call? Here is an FAQ on robocalls from the California Public Utilities Commission and here is a link to the law. If you want to take further action, there's a Political Do Not Call group that has created a registry. It has requested that large robocall companies stop calling folks on the list and has had some success.


Robocall FAQ - California - Get more Business Documents

Propositions 1A and 3

Trying to understand the ballot can make anyone's head hurt. Here is a good analysis of Propositions 1A and 3, regarding authorization of bonds for high-speed rail and children's hospitals.


0810_bb_proposition1A_and_3 - Get more Business Documents

The 7th Oakland International Film Festival

The festival, which is being hosted at the Grand Lake Theater, started on Friday and runs through next week, ending on October 16, 2008.


The schedule is here.

Tonight's films include the "Passion of Power," a movie about the dark and secret past of a common household appliance - the vibrator - by Emiko Omori & Wendy Slick, and "Hit, Run and Score: the Oakland Banshees Story," a documentary about female athletes who are professional tackle football players by Kenya Davis. Those films, and others, will be showing from 6 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

Community Meeting About Air Quality at the Port

You've read the news about how terrible the air quality is at the Port of Oakland. Well, there's a plan to improve it and the Port wants to tell you about it.

The Port is hosting a community information meeting about the Port of Oakland Maritime Air Quality Improvement Plan (MAQIP) on Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the West Oakland Senior Center.

West Oakland Senior Center
1724 Adeline St. - Multipurpose Room, 2nd Floor
Oakland , CA 94607

If you have questions about the community meeting, please contact
Laura Arreola, at (510) 627-1135 or via email at: larreola at portoakland dot com.

Self-Defense Course for Women Oct 18 - Nov 8

This course is being offered by the City of Oakland Office of Parks and Recreation. It is designed to empower women to feel confident by teaching them specific skills and techniques to defend themselves in potentially dangerous situations. The course covers topics such as Self Protection and Sexual Assault Awareness. Participants must attend all four of the three-hour sessions to successfully complete the course.

Saturdays, 3pm - 6pm

October 18 - November 8, 2008
Redwood Heights Recreation Center
3883 Aliso Avenue, Oakland

Course Fee: $40.00

(Fee includes course instruction, Certificate of Completion and personal protection items to take home.)

Register online at www.oaklandnet.com/parks/registration
Activity # 74233.403
For more information, contact Titus Taylor at (510) 238-2384

Keep Old Medicines Out of the Bay

EBMUD is hosting several local medicine collections this week as part of No Drugs Down the Drain Week, Oct 4 - 11.

Info on disposal locations here.


Or easier to remember for the future: www.ebmud.com/cleanbay (and click on events link)

Thanksgiving Food Drive

Project Darreis is kicking off its annual Thanksgiving Food Drive. Please consider making a donation! They are accepting everything from canned food to monetary contributions that can be used to help families get a turkey. There is a drop off at the Project Darreis's offices at the First Christian Church at 111 Fairmount Avenue or at the home of Belinda Gilchrist-Day, the founder of the project, at 339 Oakland Avenue. For more information please e-mail projectdarreis at yahoo dot com or call 510-467-5053 or 510-692-1957. The deadline for donations is November 17. Last year the project gave away 38 bags of food and 50 turkeys to people in the neighborhood who needed a helping hand.

Belinda talks about the food drive in the video below.

Crime Prevention Meeting October 23, 2008 7 PM

The regular crime prevention meetings, which were in hiatus during the summer, are starting up again. The first meeting will be on October 23 at 7 p.m. at Providence House, 540 23rd St,Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 444-0839. In addition to touching base with OPD about what they have been doing in our neighborhood, including recent arrests and crime trends, we are hoping to learn more about how we can finally start getting misdemeanors prosecuted. In the past, petty criminals in Oakland basically got a license to wreck havoc from District Attorney Tom Orloff, though funny enough, misdemeanors did get prosecuted in other cities in Alameda County. We'll leave the politics of that unusual situation aside. Thanks to City Attorney John Russo, we've got a solution. Russo has set up a new misdemeanor unit within his office.

Among the crimes we will now be able to get prosecuted is the petty drug dealing that openly goes on at Oakland Avenue, Harrison Street, Orange Street, Pearl Street, Frisbie Way and Fairmount Ave, graffiti, loitering and disturbing the peace. Please come and learn how you can make a difference.

See above map for the location of Providence House or follow this link.

What are those Squiggly Lines?

PG&E is replacing the pipes leading to houses on Oakland Avenue and Harrison Street. They are bearing all the costs for digging up and then and paving over the street when they are finished.

Please Help Find Louie

A very friendly and much beloved black and grey tabby named Louie has gone missing from his home on Fairmount and Frisbie. He likes to follow strangers and is very affectionate.
If you find him please call 1-888-466-3242.