Comment Archives: Last 7 Days
Re: “A People-Focused Solution”
Ms. Pallatto,
Both the Oakland City Council and the Oakland school board are currently talking about programs to fund during the upcoming year.
The next council hearing on the 2013-15 proposed budget is Thursday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. Here's more info:
http://www2.oaklandnet.com/OAK040588
The school board has a meeting tonight, May 22, at 6 p.m., and will be discussing its budget at hearings in June.
http://www.ousd.k12.ca.us/ousd/site/defaul…
Re: “A People-Focused Solution”
Mr. Russell,
That link is great for CommunityWorks, the nonprofit that runs the county program. For Oakland public schools, the nonprofit Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth operates on three campuses. Its website is:
http://www.rjoyoakland.org/
Re: “A People-Focused Solution”
I found the online donation page: https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/Community…
Re: “Unveiling a Secret City”
@Spencer oof, fixed, sorry
— Ellen, EBX Web Editor
Re: “A People-Focused Solution”
How do I get info on supporting the program personally? I'd like to make a donation.
Re: “When Will California Legalize Pot?”
Great post.thanks for sharing this wonderful article. All the best to you.
Lawn Aeration Vacaville CA
Re: “Unveiling a Secret City”
Who is Scott Mclure?
Re: “A People-Focused Solution”
Thanks for this thoughtful, in-depth story. Wondering how to influence decisions to find funding for this program. Any thoughts?
Re: “Medical Marijuana Bill Passes California Senate”
California should watch for doctor shopping and the doctors that push pills, but should realize that pain patients have few choices. The Feds keep pushing opiate pills, but stop people from using safe medical marijuana for pain. Marijuana works very well for pain management. Unless someone has tried cannabis for pain, they should not venture the opinion that it doesn't work for medical purposes. Pain management with cannabis requires the right dosage. Using marijuana edibles is the right way to maintain pain reduction. This book has great recipes for edible marijuana that are easy, small and cheap to make: MARIJUANA - Guide to Buying, Growing, Harvesting, and Making Medical Marijuana Oil and Delicious Candies to Treat Pain and Ailments by Mary Bendis, Second Edition. Only 2.99. Learn to make marijuana oil, delicious Cannabis Chocolates, and tasty Dragon Teeth Mints. goo.gl/iYjPn goo.gl/Jfs61
Re: “Medical Marijuana Bill Passes California Senate”
Give a copy to the pig feds>so they can have a good laugh.
Re: “Tuesday Must Reads: Bridge Expert Says Bad Bolts Should Be Replaced; State Control of Oakland Schools Failed to Fix Financial Problems”
Can you please do some research on what worldwide what bridges cost in other country's and post a list. Already this seems incredibly long in terms of time, high in expense, poor in quality but I really would like to know where we fall in the continuum. Then maybe we should decide other massive projects like high speed rail.
Re: “Summer Camp for Grown-Ups”
As the owner of Swift Nature Camp, we have considered this sort of program before, but believe it would be much harder than a children's camp. It would be filled with adults acting like children rather than children trying to act like adults.
http://www.swiftnaturecamp.com/minnesota.h…
Re: “Letters for the Week of May 15, 2013”
Regarding handicap placard abuse: ENFORCEMENT! Yesterday at lunch NINE out of the ten cars parked on the south side of the 2200 block of Webster had placards. Most of the vehicles were also FBI agents' cars and that's crazy... the parking garage for their building has an elevator but the street spaces they are parking in are as far away from their office's entrances as you can get.
Re: “Occupy Oakland's Livestreamer Controversy”
Photojournalists (and now DGR reps) are routinely assaulted by violent elements of (A)narchist sympathizers/activists.
http://amicuscuria.com/wordpress/?p=9505
They (and their mentors) also continue a campaign of thinly veiled threats, bullying, and intimidation:
http://pugetsoundanarchists.org/content/ma…
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
“Ryan Martin” you are entitled to your own opinion but NOT to your own facts. In addition, your comments would have more credibility if you use your real name as opposed to a fictitious one and if you focused on facts as opposed to name-calling and personal attacks.
On your first paragraph, you contradicted yourself by stating, “we didn't make GM cars. We made Corollas and Tacomas and the Pontiac Vibe (25% at its height)” GM owned the Pontiac brand, therefore, we DID built GM vehicles, according to your math, 25% of NUMMI’s production. (contradiction.....!!)
But lets focus on the subject being discussed on this post as opposed to your own agenda. The comparison of the auto industry and NUMMI to healthcare and Kaiser should be explored.
In the mid 1990s, NUMMI entered a different business practice. The contract started changing and at each bargaining year there were more concessions being made by the union. The employer’s attempt to do more with less intensified. Temporary workers were introduced on 2003; this meant that labor with no benefits, raises, or seniority replaced the conventional 90-day provisionary period for a benefitted employee. Attendance policy became extremely strict and it terminated more seniority employees than any other issue in the facility……. (Sounds familiar?)
What did the union do? We focused 90% of our resources on representation. Year after year at the bargaining table, being faced with a challenging business climate and rising cost of healthcare, we took steps backwards for fear of losing jobs. On 2008, NUMMI had beaten every record in the industry by producing more vehicles with less people than any other auto plant in the nation. The vehicles we built had the best quality and were in higher demand than most vehicles in the world. Toyota was making record profits and was expanding; then 2009 and the Housing Bubble came, GM and Chrysler were seeking Federal aid in order to prevent bankruptcy. Toyota stopped production in some of their plants for the first time in history, and Ford was on the verge of financial ruins as well.
The UAW negotiated a deal with GM and Chrysler over the retirement plans in which the UAW became part owner of the companies with 17.5% ownership of GM, and 55% ownership of Chrysler. However, this deal did not stopped plant closures or a two-tier wage system negotiated on 2011 by the UAW. In addition, the UAW continues to drop in membership to an alarming rate.
The lessons I learned in my tenure with the UAW and the NUMMI plant closure are that the world can change in one second, and that unions are not truly representing its membership well if they continue to show up at the bargaining table with no ideas or solutions to the challenges of tomorrow. Calling the employer names and pointing at record profits did not work for the UAW and it’s not working for other unions throughout the Nation.
On June 4th 2013, SEIU-UHW will be mobilizing 10 thousand people to the state capital to rally against a one billion dollar in cuts to Medical. These cuts affect working families, low-income Californians, Hospital Administrators, Healthcare workers, Insures, etc. While Kaiser and other Healthcare giants are affected by these cuts, they’re unable to mobilize thousands of people like we are, thus stopping the cuts from materializing. It is these actions we are taking that generate strength to our union, political power, and results at the bargaining table.
It is shameful that NUHW and CNA spent over 10 million dollars in a second failed attempt to destroy the best contract in the industry while they could have focused on organizing the unorganized or fighting cuts to Medical. It is a shame that NUHW calls itself “the workers” union while NUHW and CNA are doing nothing to prevent cuts to Medical. Who are they really looking out for……?????
Ryan Martin, or whatever your name is, if you really care about labor and working families, join me on June 4 to stop cuts to Medical………..
Re: “Three Awesome Bike Day Trips in the Bay Area”
This comment was removed because it violates our policy against anonymous comments. It will be reposted if the commenter chooses to use his or her real name.
Re: “Are More Cops the Answer?”
Bob, your explanation of how Richmond can afford the equivalent per capita of what would be 770 cops in Oakland makes more sense than the RPD chief's explanation about RPD cops paying in to their pensions many years earlier than Oakland cops.
The ad valorem property tax rate in Oakland is now about 1.4057% vs 1.3738% for Richmond. The rate for SF is only 1.1691%.
Parcel taxes and direct assessments are 820, 1018, and 247 (!) respectively for a single family residence.
Would like to ask one of the several "urban economics" staff if any are left at City Hall now that Redevelopment is gone, if they ever ran the numbers comparing increased tax revenue per capita from adding more residential housing vs industrial vs commercial real estate.
Adding more residential might lower the cost of housing, but it might also be chasing our tail in trying to get more tax revenue per capita regardless of what we want to spend that on.
Re: “The Best Chinese Restaurant in Oakland That You've Never Heard Of”
I've been going to Ben's for a year, the food is delicious and inexpensive but what keeps me coming back is how fresh it is. They are located in the produce district and it shows. Ben knows how to cook vegetables, not overcook them like most restaurants. Expect warm service, great inexpensive food and don't forget to bring cash.
Re: “Are More Cops the Answer?”
As somewhat of an aside, at the last Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board (LPAB) meeting, CalTrans presented their plans for the rehab of the Posey & Webster tubes. Plans call for replacing the boarded-up windows in the towers with Plexiglass or a similar material.
As a board member, I asked about why they were not planning on retrofitting with more historically-appropriate and presumably much less expensive glass. While I was expecting to hear about seismic requirements or durability or some-such, the answer was to meet the requirement of bullet-proof material.
Apparently the maintenance personnel who work in the towers insist on bullet-proofing because the towers get shot at so frequently. While I have no idea if these concerns are substantiated, I find it interesting that CalTrans is willing to acquiesce so readily.
In Oakland, apparently it's taken as a given that people will blindly shoot at a tower that might have someone working inside.
Re: “Best Retirement Community”
Why does the word "retirement" always make me think of eavestrough in Calgary???