Thanksgiving has a way of bringing a sleepy vibe to this ‘burg, so
your humble correspondent took advantage of the down time to walk the
mean streets of El Cerrito, cruising San Pablo Avenue in search of some
sweet Wienerschnitzel grease. We were saddened to see that not even the
world’s most reliably disgusting fast food joint would see fit to dole
out the cholesterol crystals on this Day of Days, but heartened to
discover we weren’t the only ones in search of a heart attack. So props
to you, Filipino stoners in your black Camero! May your munchie
adventures bring you fortune!
Raiders Drop Ball. Literally.
Let’s start with the Raiders. We know there’s no hope, so we try not
to care. But last Sunday’s game was against the Kansas City Chiefs, who
are racing Oakland to grab that brass ring known as Most Embarrassing
Team of the 2008 Season. All you have to do is show up, and you walk
away with a win. Unless, of course, you abandon a sure-fire field goal
attempt and run with a trick play, slipping the ball to kicker
Sebastian Janikowski.
You can already guess what happened next. Big J flubbed the catch,
and a Chief picked up the ball and ran it back for six points. Oakland
dropped another one, and Raider Nation will have to wait another week
for a chance to see some potential for next year in their boys. In a
slow news week, where everyone is dosing on tryptophan and glancing at
the Idiot Box for a little Oakland sunshine, the Al Davis team limped
off with a 20-13 loss. More metaphors for Oakland misery! Huzzah!
Would You Like a Little Crime with Those
Yams?
Not everyone else was busy walking the earth this Thanksgiving in
search of footlongs. Some were busy shooting each other. This holiday,
the bad boys of Oakland let fly with the bullets, blasting people in
two separate shooting incidents that left five people wounded. If you
think that was bad, consider last Sunday. Four people were shot in
separate incidents that day, from West Oakland to the San Leandro
border; all survived and are being treated in local hospitals. On the
same night, three armed men carjacked some poor soul, and three other
villains committed armed robbery against innocent victims in North and
East Oakland.
In response to these and other crimes, Mayor Ron Dellums has agreed
to free up overtime pay to allow Oakland cops to fight the surge in
crime over the holiday season. This can’t be good for the budget, which
was recently crippled by a $42 million deficit. But a few weeks ago, an
eighty-year-old woman was horribly beaten while scavenging for
recyclables in the Eastlake District, lending a certain frisson to the
news that Oakland was recently ranked the fifth-most-dangerous city in
the country. The mayor may have had little choice.
But at least we won’t see Dellums’ stepson Michael walking the
streets anytime soon. Last week, Michael Dellums, who was convicted of
shooting a drug dealer in 1979, was denied parole yet again. The last
time parole officials denied him his freedom was January 8, 2007
— the very day Ron was sworn in as mayor.
Good Cash News for Cal
As the grinding state budget negotiations neared their end this
summer, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger decided at the last minute to
make one final change; he axed $5.4 million from the University of
California’s budget, in order to kill the state university’s labor
studies program. Now, new UC president Mark Yudof has stuck a pin in
the Austrian’s eye, doing a little accounting magic to free up $4
million to restore at least some of the labor studies’ budget. The cash
will be split between UC Berkeley and UCLA.
Meanwhile, UC Berkeley officials were pleased to learn that the
National Institute for Standards and Technology has given them an $11
million grant to build a new facility to research nanotechnology on
campus. Now, if only they can figure out what to do with their former
president’s house in the Kensington hills; according to the Contra
Costa Times, the president’s mansion is crumbling and falling
apart, and the bill to restore the place will top $10 million. The
facility is more than the president’s residence; it typically serves as
a place to host fund-raisers and other events to boost the university’s
profile in academic circles.
Three-Dot Roundup
The Trib reports that state Assemblyman Sandré
Swanson, despite raising a fortune to win an election he was already
guaranteed, is still busy getting donors to attend his swanky dinners
for $100 a plate; the money will probably be diverted to the California
Democratic Party in order to boost Swanson’s juice in the Assembly. …
The East Bay contributed its part to the new Obama administration, as
Cal economics professor Christina Romer has been tapped to run the
president-elect’s Council on Economic Advisors. And Oakland clothing
designer Biscotti made the dress worn by Obama’s eldest daughter on
Election Night! In a grim week, this is welcome news, however trivial.
