Politics

The foster father of missing five-year-old Hasanni Campbell sought to clarify aspects of the case Wednesday night when he spoke with reporters in his home in Fremont.

The BART board listened last Thursday as Oakland residents made some corrections and additions to the draft model for a Citizen Oversight Committee presented by BART. The draft the board presented on Monday called for a Citizen Oversight Committee and an independent auditor. The committee would be made up of 11 members.and  an independent auditor who would have subpoena power to talk to any BART police officer and “unfettered” access to police personnel records and police reports once a complaint…

Only nine of 50 local businesses participated in Thursday’s General Strike to protest the hike in parking fees, but some 100 local business owners and residents attended the meeting Thursday night at the Grand Lake Theater and District 2 Councilmember Pat Kernighan said the City Council should meet soon to reconsider the fee hikes. Kernighan said at the meeting that she had received more than 200 e-mails during the last several weeks, complaining about the hikes in parking-related fees. “The…

The merchants on Lakeshore plan to hold a General Strike Thursday to protest the city’s parking fee hikes, which they said, are chasing away customers. “If we do not act now, many businesses will fail and our city will be much worse off,” wrote Allen Michaan, the owner of the Grand Lake Theater in a flyer calling for the strike. It’s unclear how many of the businesses on Lakeshore will participate. Bob Jaffe sighed at the sight of the parking…

Cyprus Pishdad was excited two months ago when his new T-shirt business, Pure510 on busy Lakeshore appeared to be doing well despite the economy. Then in July, his business started to decline. “The sales were worse than the first week I opened the business. I realized that it coincide with the raise in parking meter,” said the 46-year old business owner, who said his business has dropped 30 percent. Now Pishdad and other angry business owners are talking about the…

Reporting from the Chambers. LIVE! 5:34 p.m. – Agenda lists Nancy Nadel is currently in Jamaica. She will speak via teleconference all the way from Blue Harbour Castle Gardens in Port Maria, Jamaica, West Indies. This will be interesting. 5:47 p.m.  -Council members are in! Ignacio De La Fuente walks in with Animal, the drummer from Sesame Street. I’m reserving judgment.  We are now being asked to rise for The Pledge of Allegiance. 5:55 p.m. – “Efficiency,  transparency and accountability….

A number  of Oakland artists are trying to pass down the tradition of screen printed posters to a younger generation – including its political history.  Melanie Cervantes, Jesus Barraza and Favianna Rodriguez  take on the challenge.  

After six years of state control, the Oakland Unified School District resumed local control last week and new Superintendent Tony Smith, an Oakland native, was inducted into office.  But what exactly does this mean for Oakland residents in terms of change? Not much, apparently.  While the OUSD Board will now be in a position to make independent decisions – versus advising a state administrator –  the looming budget crisis seems to be tying everyone’s hands. One reason why school officials…

The Oakland Council members unanimously passed an Energy and Climate Action Plan late Tuesday night. The approval by the eight-member council now sends the city to preliminary planning to see how it can reduce greenhouse gasses to 36 percent below the 2005 level by 2020. Targets listed in the plan would meet international standards of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a unit put on partly by the United Nations Environment Program. “We are unlikely allies,” said Ian Kim, member…