Comment Archives: stories: News: News
Re: “Can Popuphood Revitalize KONO?”
Heres the deal.... rezone the area for anything goes... light manufacturing..
heavy equipment.. the usual coffee...restauraunt mix.. and gun manufacturing and sales along with shooting range indoors.. that would wake up the area.
I can hear the screams now... the self described "non conformists" are so predictable..so locked into their little world.. but I am serious.. you wonder why theres no real business? leftist hostility to business is the reason..
a bunch of chi chi restaurants and foo foo coffee shops don't make an industry...you want people who can buy $500 dinners..? Open manufacturing...
stop your hostility to dirt, grease, guns and ammo... embrace them...
motorcycle manufacturing, and bicycle mfg.... whatever... take whatever "offends " you and embrace it... .. come back to earth. you are not all that special.. get over yourselves ... viva la revolucion... jaja
Re: “Cops' Violent Past to Be Kept from Jury”
So Jeff, the problem here is the police are nearly immune from charges and punishment. Look at Mehserle, caught on numerous videos killing an innocent citizen but gets off with a slap on the wrist, with similar info excluded from the court case. This happens repeatedly and the system is biased because of these evidence exclusions in courts. They do not operate on common sense or rationality. This bias is intolerable, unjust and allows police to act like thugs at their discretion without recourse. This is why OPD has sanctions. Get the bad cops punished and this stuff stops. Isn't that why we have police and courts for criminal justice?
Re: “Cops' Violent Past to Be Kept from Jury”
The reasons judges make rulings like this are: a) it's in their best interests to protect the powers that be; and of course b) because they can, pretty much with impunity. There's no point arguing with them. They don't care about the law or about giving people fair trials.
There is one thing, short of civil unrest, that might make a difference: if lawyers in the area went on strike until the judge either reversed herself or disqualified herself.
http://strikelawyer.wordpress.com/2013/03/…
Judges need lawyers on both sides of disputes to maintain the image of a fair contest. When they consistently screw over one kind of lawyer - criminal defense lawyers and lawyers for individual plaintiffs suing large institutional litigants - they are vulnerable to a strike by those kinds of lawyers, who at that point have little or nothing to lose.
They have lawyer strikes in other countries. I've never heard of any here, but this would be a good occasion to try one.
Re: “Cops' Violent Past to Be Kept from Jury”
Yes we need cops like these on the streets killing when ever they want. And we need more judges like this one who will protect the thug cops, and keep info from the juries. I mean how can we ever have a powerful and effective police state without such animals as these.
We may be able to do away with courts all together and just unlease death squads on the streets. It would certainly save everyone a lot of trouble.
Re: “Can Popuphood Revitalize KONO?”
Wow, some of this makes KONO sound sad. Good thing I've lived in KONO for 12 so I know better. This place is alive with interesting, sometimes edgy activity. Creative folks are all around who see new possibilities. Close to public trans which will become ever more important as we learn that we can't be driving all over creation. Straight shot to downtown Oakland, Berkeley, SF.
Eating places from many different cultures, galleries and your normal, everyday helpful businesses. I am so happy to have moved into this neighborhood where property was still affordable, to transform an old building into a mixed-use bustling home for my non-profit arts org (my commute is down ten steps.)
Re: “Cops' Violent Past to Be Kept from Jury”
I think the judge did the right thing. So what if a police officer has had numerous complaints against him/her what counts is the adjudicated cases, not the amount of accusations. Similarly I don't think a judge would allow how many stops/detainments a civillian has had against them but what does count are convictions.
Ali writes as if OPD operates in a vacuum- which they don't - they operate in a rough neighborhood. Just imagine if Ali had written about the number of gangs (around 65-80 known gangs depending on which study), 3800 gang members.
I don't know what Ali's beef with these officers is but she shows her bias when she writes about a seemingly proper shooting of Allen & Dunbar where the victims didn't obey officers commands and tried to ram the officers. At a certain point the officers are heroes for being on the street but that is not what Ali writes. The judge is absolutely correct in not allowing this in as prejudicial.
Now about the shooting of Jones- the officers saw something in the hands of Jones. This is why we have juries but I even doubt whether an OPD officer can get a fair shake in Oakland. Winston says the jury will hear of 4 witnesses who saw nothing in Jones' hand- she doesn't delve into the circumstances of what led up to the shooting. I remind Winsotn that there was not one conviction in the Riders case - and yes I will cop to there being 1 fugitive . Nonetheless nary a conviction. Winston concludes with another biased statement- Mehserle got a "light term" really what if you believe he made an honest mistake?
Re: “Can Popuphood Revitalize KONO?”
It's a shame that AC Transit's Bus Rapid Transit line (BRT) is no longer planned to run up Telegraph. That project was set to be a major street-renewal project, and I had high hopes for it to generate a "sense of place" to Telegraph, in Koreatown (as well as Temescal, Berkeley, etc).
Re: “Can Popuphood Revitalize KONO?”
The East Bay Bicycle Coalition has prioritized Telegraph Ave as a key bikeway in need of completion, and we look forward to working with Popuphood, the KONO CBD and the Temescal BID on making Telegraph a better street for bicycling but also for walking too, and to fully involve the communities along Telegraph in this process. Oakland has quickly become one of the most popular cities for bicycling and the City needs to meet this growing demand for safe streets for bicycling.
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
I couldn't be more relieved to see this in-depth article on Councilman Booze. He has made watching the Richmond City Council meetings on local cable TV so painful that I often have to leave the room when he's ranting. I knew he was an ugly spirited man, a race-baiting phony, but this really exposes him as a criminal.
How about a RECALL of BOOZE? I'm a Richmond resident and the sooner he is off the City Council, the better for the City.
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
Thank you for making this public. A large part of the Richmond community knew much of what the article contained, but it took some good reporting to pull it all together.
What enables this kind of anti-social, corrupt behavior?
-Chevron participates by crediting Corky Booze for its $200,000 (tax deductible) contribution to a training program it was giving anyway.
-The leadership of a so-called “community coalition” knew all of this about Corky but bestowed the Martin Luther King award on him for modeling non-violent behavior.
-Some media reporters regard Corky as “colorful,” framing community issues around his views, and building him up.
-Politicians who claim to “bridge both sides,” give credence to his nonsense.
Corky, bully that he is, blames the Richmond Progressive Alliance, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, and Councilmembers Jovanka Beckles and Tom Butt, the only people who will stand up to his narcissism and nonsense.
Mike Parker
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
To learn more about this guy and his terrible doings in Richmond listen to the following KPFA interviews: http://www.kpfa.org/archive/id/89739
Let it be light!
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
Sadly, I also voted for this wingnut. Talk about feeling played. If I had possessed knowledge of this part of his history, and I believe if others also knew of it, he would not have been elected. He is a loose cannon who along with his crony, Nat Bates, uses race to divide the community. It is the act of desperate men, however 'divide and conquer' still works. Eventually the community will see him for who he truly is, and his little reign of terror will be over. Chevron will drop him like a hot potato.
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
Thank you for outing Vice Mayor Booze for what he truly is. A member of the Chevron Plantation Alliance which seeks to return control of Richmond City Government to the Chevron Corporation. He does this for the basest of reason , Chevron''s money. Funds given to support his upcoming election campaign or given to his favored community organizations to buy him political support. His opposition to the casino at Pt. Molate it seems was not based on any concern for the community rather the big bucks showered upon him by the Card Clubs which opposed it. He doesn't deserve the support of anyone in our community except for other members of the Chevron Plantation Alliance, ie. Council member Bates
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
Too bad this wasn't publicized before the election. I wonder if Chevron will be there for him and when will Nat Bates disassociate himself. Every time Booze is called on the carpet he claims some bias toward him. No one else is allowed to keep a junk yard with that much junk. He has had his time on the council he will never be elected again.
Re: “Sir Dyno Deals with ... the Prosecution”
I've been bumpin Sir Dyno for quite some time. He's one of my top Latino rappers, he just got caught in some bull shit, that's all. As long as he's not snitchin nobody out let alone implicating anybody. So from my understanding he's able to walk into the County or the Pen with his chest and head held high.
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
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Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
This is the chickens coming home to roost moment for Corky Booze. Thanks to John Geluardi for the in-depth expose . Hopefully the information here will ensure that Booze is a one term council member. Booze’s hypocrisy and his political thug tactics are reminiscent of another important American hypocrite who experienced a melt down after exposure, Sen. Joseph McCarthy!
Booze’s bullying and intimidation in the community, always picking on smaller and weaker people, his sleazy tryst with Lori Reese Brown in the filthy little campaign office, abusing elderly people, particularly those who have worked for him, and his particularly close friendship with certain police officers, especially Andre Hill, should be enough to raise questions of fitness for office and preferential treatment from certain police officers.
Booze is the poster child for hypocrisy. He publicly berates Code Enforcement staff while being one of the city’s biggest code violators. He publicly berates the Office of Neighborhood Safety, who can claim part of the credit for Richmond’s major reduction in homicides, while opposing community based violence prevention strategies.
Booze rarely does his homework and uses valuable council meeting time for pointless inquisitions of staff and consultants on inane questions that are usually answered in the council packet.
Whenever Booze is called on his erratic and/or disruptive behavior, he pulls out the race card to try and convince gullible elements in the African American community that he is fighting on their behalf and these efforts to restore order to the Council meetings is part of some grand anti-Black conspiracy by “progressive white” folks. Of course, this is just a diversion strategy that fools no one except a hand full of pro-Chevron types in the audience.
Booze is an opportunist of the highest order. He got elected, after having run and lost ten times, by riding the anti-casino sentiment spearheaded by the Richmond Progressive Alliance and its allies. Once in office, he immediately turned his back on the Mayor and her allies on the council and got right into bed with Chevron, Richmond Sanitary, the Council of Industries and the other corporate heavies in town.
One and out – the saga of Corky Booze
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
perhaps he may be a one-term mistake, i'm not sure that even all the Chevron money he may get will be enuf to undo the terrible record of Corky.
Re: “Richmond Councilman Gets Called on His Junk”
Great article. Should be read by all neighbors in Richmond.
The $18K from Booze’s campaign treasure to his ‘landlord-domestic partner Laura Baker’ smells like campaign funds laundering . Pay to self perhaps? This should be researched further. How many campaign meetings were conducted in this ‘junk-yard’ dump? What type of ‘consulting’ did Laura Baker do for Booze’ for which she was paid hundreds of additional dollars during the last campaign with campaign funds? There needs to be more light on all this.
The violence Booze used against his elderly campaign manager Jackie Thompson (65) and his elderly campaign webmaster David Moore (72), and others, presents a clear and troubling picture of a street thug accustomed to the use of violence and intimidation. Hopefully Booze will not assault more Richmond residents before his lamentable term in office is up in 2014 and Richmond voters fire him. Chevron endorsing Booze is what you would expect from Chevron.
Juan Reardon
Re: “Can Popuphood Revitalize KONO?”
"plagued by vacant storefronts" "nearly empty" "mostly been known for its crime, drug addicts, and homeless population"
As someone who lives in KONO, I really don't define my neighborhood as a place of empty storefronts, crime, and homelessness. Like other neighborhoods in Oakland, I believe the success of many businesses has been hurt by the economic environment, which has also impacted the residents that live and work here. I'm glad that this article does cover the fact that more than just retail is needed. We need businesses and organizations that will provide jobs to our community. We need products and services that benefit our bodies and minds. THAT is what I am hoping the future of "urban revitalization" will bring.