First the SF 49ers "Videogate", then The Racist Stanford Video Before "The Big Game" , Now The SF Police Video - All This Year. What's Going On?

At the start of 2005 the San Francisco Bay area was rocked by the revelation that the San Francisco 49ers created a racist and sexist "traning tape." Then, just before this year's Cal / Stanford "Big Game" a group of Stanford Students made a video said to be, again, racist and sexist. Now, the San Francisco Police Department's dark underbelly of racial intolerance is being exposed in the release of information on another video that is, yep, called racist and sexist.

Wait. This is the SF Bay Area, right? What's going on?

Well, my theory is that the kind of subtile racism Bay Area African Americans have always complained about has found its way into these videos and are quickly being exposed to the public in this Internet Age.

The fact that the general public was made aware of all three of theese videos just this year is no spritual accident, in my view. The arrows of policy and institutional reform point to the need to one-and-for-all solve this problem of racial intoleerance in our local institutions.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom should convene a Task Force on the Elimination of Racism and Sexism. I think it will be not only his most provacative action, but the most eye-opening. Mayor Newsom wiill find people and organizations running for cover or moving to prove that they are models of diversity and understanding. The effort would cut to the very core of San Francisco's culture and force the city -- and the Bay Area -- to take a hard look at itself.

Some will say that the videos "were all in fun" but that's the point: "fun" should not be obtained by hurting someone's feelings because they are minority, or female, or any person who -- until the last 30 years of economic advancement -- were not part of the socioeconomic mainstream. Yet, it seems to be some kind of sport in some circles to do this.

It's not right. Humor does not have to come from physical differences.

The San Francisco Bay Area should know better.

Oakland Creates Another White Elephant - The Case of The Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center

You know, with so many Oakland-related posts, I may create another blog on Oakland-related matters. I just don't know what to call it. Until then..

The Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center is an enormous building that sits on the western shore of Lake Merritt, and opposite Laney College. It has an 8,000 seat arena, a 2,000 seat auditorium, and with all of that, the City of Oakland can no longer afford to keep in open. The Oakland Tribune reports the Oakland City Council made that decision Tuesday night.

11th-hour plan can't save center
Oakland council decides the city doesn't have the money to keep Kaiser open after Jan. 1
By Heather MacDonald, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND — A last-minute proposal from a Chicago-based consulting firm and the Peralta Community College District will not save the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center from being mothballed.
The Oakland City Council decided unanimously Tuesday night that the city simply does not have the money to keep the historic building's doors open after Jan. 1.

"We tried," said council President Ignacio De La Fuente (Glenview-Fruitvale), adding it would take a "miracle" to keep the center open.

Although International Facilities Group promised to operate the center with a subsidy of only $175,000, City Administrator Deborah Edgerly recommended the council reject the deal because the city would be on the hook if the center's performance failed to meet expectations.

IFG planned to rebrand the Kaiser center and make 10th Street Oakland's "Avenue of the Arts," tying together the Oakland Museum of California and Laney College.

The community college district would have used the center, which includes an 8,000-seat arena, the 2,000-seat Calvin Simmons Theater and two smaller ballrooms, as a performing arts center to showcase its theater and dance programs.

But the city would have had to give IFG, which was founded by the son of Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, the center's $1 million budget up front, said Anne Campbell Washington, assistant to the city administrator.

"That puts all of the burden on the city," said Councilmember Pat Kernighan (Grand Lake-Chinatown). "We shouldn't risk all of our money."

Joseph J. Briglia, IFG president of business development, said the company would continue to work on a viable plan to keep the Kaiser center open, saying it is a valuable resource.

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The City's never had a marketing plan for the facility, and I know the Convention and Visitor's Bureau could have determined a way to bring it into its efforts.