San Francisco Hotel Community Video Talks To Hotel Employees

This video, sent to this blogger by a member of the San Francisco Hotel Community, explains their position in the issue of contract dispute with the Unite Here Local 2 labor union.

Here's the video:



Where Hilton has settled with the union, other hotel managers have not, and this video explains why. In it, they claim that Unite Here Local 2 labor union have drained $1 million of hotel employee union dues going to it. The video claims that the San Francisco hotel worker has nothing to do with Unite Here Local 2's attempts to unionize in other American cities.

This blogger's issue with Unite Here Local 2's approach is that it's ignorant of the current business climate, where money for travel and tourism is far less than even four years ago. It forgets that hotels can and do go out of business, harming the ability of workers to make money to help and maintain their families.

It would be better if Unite Here Local 2 itself actually ran a hotel, then it would be in a better position to understand what it takes to maintain a hotel as a business, and negotiate in a more intelligent way.

Courtney Ruby: Oakland City Auditor Talks Origins, ABC Security Issue

Courtney Ruby. A search for a video interview or comment from the City of Oakland's elected auditor reveals, until today, nothing. This is the first, and to date only, full long-form interview with Oakland's City Auditor.

Because the Akron, Ohio native was new to long video interviews, and to video-blogging, this interview was one part 'getting to know her,' and the other part on the issues of the day: the ABC Security issue that comes before the Oakland City Council this evening, and her budget. In all, the video - made at the new eatery Disco Violante (great burgers) at 347 14th Street in Downtown Oakland, is about 24 minutes long.  And because the ABC Security issue is "hot," this will be blog post one on Courtney Ruby, with two other posts to come later in the week.

But, for those of you interested in ABC Security, let's start with Ms. Ruby's comments about that.

Click here for ABC Security comments in the video at the 14:45 mark.

ABC Security and Favoritism.

ABC Security is an Oakland company located at 1840 Embarcadero, not far from Quinn's Lighthouse and in Oakland Council District Five, politically helmed by the legendary Oakland Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente.

Ms. Ruby has alleged that ABC Security may have violated the law by donating to Oakland councilmembers before seeking an Oakland contract valued at $2 million.   Even though ABC was the fifth, and then sixth ranked company, it managed to secure the recommendation of the Oakland City Council.  (For note, ABC Security wasn't the only security firm to be accused of a "pay to play" action, Marina Security, was as well.)

The City's Auditor forwarded the issue to the Oakland Public Ethics Commission.  One of the councilmembers who benefited was Jane Brunner of District One, North Oakland, who said that her choice of ABC Security wasn't due to the donation, and that she would return the money they've donated toward her.

Moreover, both Councilmembers Brunner and De La Fuente wrote about their reasons for supporting ABC Security, stating that...

ABC Security is an Oakland-grown, minority- and woman-owned local business with a long history of hiring Oakland residents and providing well-paying, union jobs. ABC currently employs 213 Oakland residents; that's 87 percent of its workforce...Nevertheless, because it has thrived and has exceeded the city's definition of a small business, it wasn't awarded preference points under the city's current point system, nor was it awarded points for its 42 years as an Oakland business nor for employing 87 percent Oakland residents.

On the ABC Security issue, which begins at the 14:45 minute mark of the video, Courtney Ruby and this blogger didn't address Brunner's and De La Fuente's statements, and Ruby seemed eager to avoid any political finger-pointing.  How did the issue come to her?

"I knew that the contract was before the council from the (City Council meeting) agendas.  I knew that a contract had been let. I always watch the committee hearings, so I know what's going on in the city."  She said that there was "conversation" regarding one company that was rated number one and ABC, which at the time was rated number five.   So, Ruby made it a point to visit the next committee hearing to hear the "next level of discussion" on the security contract, and watched as council recommended ABC Security, even though their ranking had dropped by one to number six in the field of firms under consideration.

She was "alarmed" that a contractor would go through an RFP process and, even though the best company, Cypress (at 452 Tehama Street in San Francisco, CA) met all of the criteria, it wasn't the one selected by the Oakland City Council, and they would consider picking a firm that was six levels down in the competition. Councilmember Pay Kernighan (District Two) tried to make a separate motion to have both Cypress and ABC Security moved to full council level, but the motion failed.

That's the issue the full City Council, will here this evening.

If the Oakland City Council wanted to have only Oakland firms, the RFP should have been restricted to companies in the city limits. But the RFP process was so geographically broad, that didn't happen. The Oakland City Council should not go against the city's own RFP criteria process in this way. That's this blogger's take.

Stay tuned.

Butler, America's Favorite, Was Ahead In NCAA Game, Is On Twitter

IF you read Twitter trends, Butler's America's favorite basketball team as they play U Conn for the NCAA Championship.

According to Trendistic, the platform that tracks popular twitter terms and keywords, as many as over one percent of all tweets were for Butler during the game, which is in the second half now, as this blog post is being written.

By contrast, UCONN takes up just .075 percent of all Twitter tweets.

Here are some of the Butler Tweets:

dtracy89 Dan Tracy
Reason No. 27 I'm pulling for #Butler: Their college newspaper is better than UCONNs. http://thebutlercollegian.com.
1 minute ago Favorite Retweet Reply

edkuryluk Ed Kuryluk
Are there any bricks left in Houston? #uconn and #butler seem to have thrown them all
2 minutes ago

That last one's a good one!

How about UCONN, you ask? Er. Well, OK. After all, my school's Cal, so I don't really care, sorta off.

Oh. You mean Twitter Tweets? Here they are:

phillipmbailey Phillip M. Bailey
Swear...I thought he was about to miss that dunk. #UConn #Butler #NCAA #MM2011
34 seconds ago

Bhog YungWilt Chamberlain
#UCONN b beatin shit downlow
34 seconds ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Typereckless Cdeasy
Let's go LAMB #UCONN
1 minute ago

AmandainOK Amanda
Slam dunk! #UConn #Butler
1 minute ago

UCONN's pulled ahead of Bulter 31 to 26 in the second half.

2011 NFL Draft: ESPN Mel Kiper Off Blaine Gabbert Bandwagon

At first, Missouri Quarterback Blaine Gabbert was the darling of the NFL Draft, with draft analysts from Mike Mayock at the NFL Network to the legendary Mel Kiper at ESPN singing the Mizzou signal caller's praises, even though he didn't win a single 2010 award of note, wasn't in the Heisman Trophy consideration contest, lost a bowl game, and didn't throw at the NFL Combine.

What Blaine Gabbert had and has going for him since January of this year is CAA Football's Tom Condon as his agent; a man described by some media types as "powerful" without explaining how that is. That "power" may have had something to do with all of the positive PR buzz surrounding Gabbert in the months since he hired Condon, especially a very slanted and frankly racist USA Today special focusing on 2010 Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton vs. Blaine Gabbert.

That article, which this blogger picked apart, featured Mel Kiper and USA Today's Jim Corbett inexplicably comparing Newton to other black quarterbacks as far back as 1999 without explaining why, or saying "Hey, these guys are black," making it look like "dog whistle" racism.

But now, in the wake of this bloggers post, which was picked up by Black Athlete, and caused Pro Football Talk to specifically mention that Gabbert got involved in a bar fight last year, something not widely reported before, Kiper's officially off the Gabbert Bandwagon.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated's Peter King, Kiper said:

Blaine Gabbert. Lotta people comparing him to Drew Bledsoe coming out, but I don't see it. I'm not buying into Gabbert. I know he runs a 4.65 at 6-5 and 235, and I give him credit for doing it with a poor receiving corps, but I think he's shaky. You realize he completed only 38 percent of his throws 15 yards [and farther] downfield? And he was only 44 percent on third down, with six touchdowns and five interceptions? You know what Andrew Luck was on third down last year? Seventy-one percent. [Gabbert will] go in the top five, but I've got him down past 10 -- not exactly sure where right now. Still finalizing that. But he and Newton will be around 12, 13 for me.

That was different from Kiper's earlier comments on Gabbert, where he had the QB going number one to the Carolina Panthers as recently as March of this year.

As a note, this blogger has nothing against Blaine Gabbert, but something against pumping him up just to counter the chance that Cam Newton will be picked by the Panthers, and something against the media bowing down to his agent without explanation. (Moreover, Gabbert should be careful how he uses Twitter, and his use of the term "IDIOT" in a tweet was not smart.) First, taking a quarterback from this class (or any class) that high is not the best expenditure of money. Second, it's a reflection of how little confidence NFL teams seem to have in their ability to coach the passing game to a new quarterback, such that the QB can start immediately - even though the NFL is a throwing league. If the confidence was there, the feeling would be 'We can coach anyone to be a good quarterback,' but that's not the case.

The logical choice for the Panthers in the 2011 NFL Draft is to take one of the defensive tackles number one, or trade down.

Stay tuned.

Liam Hemsworth In The Hunger Games, American Idol Stars At Reality Rocks Expo

A lot of news today. Liam Hemsworth, best known as Miley Cyrus once-former boyfriend, is starting in The Hunger Games, it was announced on Twitter by TheHungerGames (a Lions Gate Production).

And American Idol stars, along with Nick Cannon, DeAnna Pappas, Audrina Patridge, Eric Roberts, Karina Smirnoff, Jack Osbourne, and stars from Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Project Runway, Survivor, The Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars, RuPaul's Drag Race, Food Network, Cooking Channel, and Bravo, will appear at the first Reality Rocks Expo April 9th - 10th, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA.

But first, the Twitter tweet about Liam Hemsworth in The Hunger Games:

TheHungerGames LionsgateMovies
We are pleased to announce that actor Josh Hutcherson has been cast as Peeta Mellark, w/ Liam Hemsworth cast in the role of Gale Hawthorne!
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

(An aside: Lions Gate almost has its' social media act together. If I click on this: http://www.facebook.com/OfficialHungerGamesMovie - it reads, as of this writing, "the page you requested was not found.")

The Hunger Games is a sci-fi novel by Susan Collins that according to Wikipedia,...

is the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy. It introduces sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where North America once stood. This is where a powerful government working in a central city called the Capitol holds power. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death. The Hunger Games exist to demonstrate not even children are beyond the reach of the Capitol's power.

The Hunger Games has a budget of $80 million and is set for release March 23, 2012.

And so we go from news about a movie about a reality TV show, to news about an expo that features reality TV stars. There's so much info from the press release about Reality Rocks, this blogger's going to post parts of it below, just to make sure you get all of the relevant information about this weekend's Reality Rocks Expo:

What is it? This is what the press release explains:

Reality Rocks Expo is the first and only comprehensive, live fan-based happening that brings the invaluable world of avid and loyal viewers of Reality TV together in an up close and personal setting with their favorite reality, unscripted, factual, and lifestyle shows, celebrities, hosts and judges networks and producers. The ultimate Realty TV fan experience, Reality Rocks Expo is about the fans, for the fans and by the fans.

The inaugural edition of Reality Rocks Expo will be held April 9-10, 2011 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA.

Reality Rocks Expo is a production of Prometheus Global Media, a diversified company with leading assets in the media and entertainment arenas, including: Music (Billboard and its related conferences and events, including The Billboard Latin Music Awards), Entertainment (The Hollywood Reporter, Backstage, ShoWest, ShowEast, Cineasia, and CineEurope); and Advertising & Marketing (Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek, Adweek Conferences, and The Clio Awards).

Official media sponsor for Reality Rocks is the Los Angeles Times and additional media sponsors include Access Hollywood, GotCast.com, KIIS-FM, MySpace, On the Red Carpet, RealityWanted.com, TVLine and Zap2it.com.

The inaugural Reality Rocks Expo is bringing fans the ultimate opportunity to interact with some of their favorite stars from building with the stars of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to pitching the stars of Shark Tank and a reunion of Rockstar Supernova, Q&As with cast members of Big Brother and performances by past contestants of American Idol, when the ultimate reality TV experience, about the fans, for the fans and by the fans, comes to the Los Angeles Convention Center on April 9-10, 2011.

These stars join what is already a star-studded cast of reality TV favorites that includes previously announced Nick Cannon, Adrianne Curry, Christopher Knight, DeAnna Pappas, Audrina Patridge, Eric Roberts, Karina Smirnoff, and previous contestants and cast members from American Idol, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Project Runway, The Real World, Survivor, The Amazing Race, So You Think You Can Dance, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and top shows from Food Network, Cooking Channel and Bravo.

The Reality Rocks Expo will feature two jam - packed days filled with previews of brand -new television shows, meet and greets with fan-favorite reality TV stars and insightful panel discussions, as well as a special VIP Awards program for the Reality Rocks Fan Awards honoring fans’ favorite talent and programs. For an updated list of scheduled events and to purchase tickets starting at $35 for a one-day pass or $65 for a two-day pass to the Reality Rocks Expo, visit www.realityrocks.net.

Really exciting stuff. So many stars, one should expect to see Liam Hemsworth there. Get down to LA this weekend, if just for one day, to the Reality Rocks Expo.

Katie Couric Quits? CBS Evening News Anchor Still There

A katie-couric-getty-images, a photo by JTDGarlic on Flickr.

Katie Couric. Many have tried to push the CBS Evening News Anchor - the first woman to hold the role for CBS News - out of the door almost since she arrived in 2006. There were men like Sports Illustrated's Paul Zimmerman who in my 2006 interview with him at the NFL Draft that year, questioned the choice of the then-Today Show host as the choice to be the latest in a long, distinguished line of television journalists, featuring the legendary Walter Cronkite.  There's even something called The Katie Couric (Blank) Death Watch, where you fill in the blank, with "career" or "credibility."

This corner believes in Katie Couric, and has from day one.  But, as a woman friend with one of the news networks in New York observed today, Katie "Makes a lot of money.  That kind of money is rare in this business." And the point is CBS may be looking to pair down the payments to any current or future CBS Evening News face.

So with all that sexist crap, it should come as no surprise that, when the leggy face of CBS News announces that she wants to expand her role beyond just reading the news, the word is somehow translated into "Katie Couric Quits."

Even our own Nikky Raney at Zennie62.com got into the act, quoting the LA Times blog, and the AP. Geez.

Thankfully, it took non-mainstream media site TMZ.com to set the record straight:

Sources connected with Couric tell us ... Katie has no hard feelings toward CBS and may end up staying at the network, but feels her role as anchor of the CBS Evening News has been way too confining.

We're told Couric is most interested in doing a syndicated show -- probably a talk show -- but wants to end up somewhere that has a news operation where she can contribute. Sources say she's in serious talks with CBS, NBC and CNN. Her reps are talking to ABC, but that's a long shot.

Katie's exit from CBS Evening News is "not 100%" but it's just a matter of time before Katie announces her departure -- sources say it will come in the next few weeks.

Stay tuned.

Katie Couric Calls It Quits

Katie Couric will be leaving "CBS Evening News" as reported by the Associated Press. A blog on the LATimes reports:

"Couric has not officially announced what her next move will be, but her contract expires in early June, and she is expected to launch a syndicated talk show in 2012. Meanwhile, she has been in talks with NBC, ABC and CBS, as well as Jeff Zucker, the ex-chief executive of NBCUniversal, who produced NBC's "Today" when Couric co-anchored the show."