After loads of complaints by business owners, Yelp has finally
decided to let them respond to reviews of their businesses on its web
site. As the Express previously reported, many business owners
were upset that they were essentially being held hostage by negative
reviews — whether true or false — by Yelp, whose sales reps
told them that they could move or remove the reviews only if they
advertised. In some cases, business owners said Yelp removed positive
reviews when they refused to buy ads. Until now, the only options
business owners had was to pay what Yelp sales reps demanded or
privately message the reviewers to get them to reconsider.
But then last week, Yelp told its active users in an e-mail that it
will allow business owners to post replies to reviews as long as they
sign up for a free business owner’s account. Yelp plans to activate the
feature in a week or two. Yelp also was apparently thinking about
charging for the feature. In a “Yelp Client Feedback” survey sent in an
e-mail April 3, the popular and controversial web site asked business
owners how they felt on the subject of “allow owner/manager to publicly
comment on reviews.” The options were “don’t want it,” “don’t care
either way,” “nice to have, but not important,” “want it, but would not
pay extra,” or “would pay extra for this.” No doubt they got an earful
from angry business owners.
Reporter Helps Crack Tracy Murder
Jennifer Wadsworth, a reporter for the Tracy Press and former
East Bay Express intern, helped solve the murder case of
eight-year-old Sandra Cantu. An interview by Wadsworth with murder
suspect Melissa Huckaby reportedly helped convince homicide
investigators to turn their attention to the Sunday school teacher.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Wadsworth’s interview
exposed inconsistencies between what Huckaby told her and what she told
police. Wadsworth’s story prompted police to then reinterview Huckaby,
and arrest her for murdering Cantu. Huckaby also could be charged with
molesting the young girl.
The importance of Wadsworth’s gumshoe reporting should not be taken
for granted — and we’re not just saying that because she interned
at the Express in spring 2008. Police, you see, may never have
targeted Huckaby. The reason is that men commit the vast majority of
child abductions and killings, and so investigators were looking at
male suspects. In fact, police even questioned Cantu’s own father and
Huckaby’s 77-year-old grandfather, who is the church pastor. Huckaby,
who just doesn’t fit the profile of a child murderer, apparently was
not the prime suspect, and may never have been if it weren’t for the
22-year-old Wadsworth.
Wadsworth focused on Huckaby after hearing last week from sources
that Cantu’s dead body had been stuffed into a suitcase belonging to
Huckaby’s family. So Wadsworth called Huckaby, who said that her
suitcase had been stolen the same day as Cantu disappeared, strangely
adding that the suitcase was waterproof. The eight-year-old’s body was
found in the suitcase after it was dumped into an irrigation pond.
After Wadsworth posted a story of her interview with Huckaby on the
Tracy Press’ web site last Friday, TV reporters called Huckaby,
too. She then spoke of allegedly finding a note after Cantu
disappeared, claiming it must have been from the killer. Later that
night, police booked the Sunday school teacher on murder charges.
Possible New Oakland Mayoral
Candidate
Oakland City Councilwoman Jean Quan may be emerging as the leading
challenger to ex-state Senator Don Perata’s bid to become the city’s
next mayor. Quan’s support likely will come from a coalition of
progressives, labor activists, and environmentalists against the more
moderate Perata, who likely will be backed predominantly by the
business community. That may help explain why the Montclair area
councilwoman has been pushing hard the last few months to raise taxes
to fix the city’s budget problems and to help maintain parks — as
opposed to asking Oakland’s powerful unions for concessions.
Three-Dot Roundup
Speaking of taxes, the City of Oakland is considering taxing medical
pot — the only question is by how much. Some medical pot
dispensers say too high a tax will force them to pass the costs along
to patients. … BART wants to raise fares and cut service, but
apparently is not willing to demand concessions from its unions. … An
appellate court has green-lighted a suit against the College of Alameda
brought by two students who were punished for praying on campus. … A
state panel has approved a new ferry terminal for Berkeley to be built
just south of the Berkeley Pier. … The City of Berkeley has won a
court fight with U-Haul truck rental on San Pablo Avenue. … Vermont
joined Iowa as being more progressive than California when it legalized
gay marriage. … A high-ranking Obama official is trying to keep
secret more torture memos by UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo. …
And ex-Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb, who is now running the Detroit
public schools, is proposing to close 23 schools there and lay off 600
teachers.
