Page Mill Properties and East Palo Alto Redevelopment Agency Should Work Together

 

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Several weeks ago I started my first look at the East Palo Alto problem of tenants being evicted from apartments by the housing developer Page Mill Properties and discovered a small group of "tenant activists" were behind a kind of smear campaign that blocked the real truth from seeing the light of day: that Page Mill Properties was facing a terribly-designed rent control system and an underground economy where apartments were sublet by the tenants at markup rates.  In my alternative approach talking to planning professionals I know and who are familar with the problem in EPA, I've come up with a solution.

The irrrational activists

This revelation of Page Mill's "underground economy" problem earned me the ire of activists who started a massive personal attack campaign against me, paced by representatives of  Tenants Together and Chris Lund who really represents himself as Tenants Together associates say he's not a part of their organization.

The attacks centered on the idea that I was paid by Page Mill and even had Paul Hogarth of BayondChron "friend" me on Facebook, thus becoming one of almost 3,000 contacts, then because a Pat Murphy was one of my Facebook Friends, asserted that we must be working together, forgetting that such illogic (an appropriate term as this is "Star Trek" week and that was Spock's favorite word) would mean I was working with everyone from perennial Republican Presidential Candidate Allan Keyes to conservative columnist Michelle Malkin as both are or were Facebook Friends. But then Hogarth "defriended" himself so I could not point out that he and I were friends.

He forgets that such acts leave a trail. Here's a screenshot of the email subject heading where Hogarth "friended" me and reads "Paul Hogarth added you as a friend":

But all of this crap masks the real story of what's going on in East Palo Alto.  In one of his email tirades, Hogarth wrote that he didn't care about the involvement of the East Palo Alto Redevelopment Agency.  That's true for many of the so-called activists, and the truth is they don't have the background to even analyze what the agency has or has not done, let alone an understanding of what such agencies do under California law.

What Redevelopment Agencies Do

Redevelopment agencies in California are generally established by a city or county's elected body of officials (but as a side note, a joint powers authority or even, say, the Port of Oakland, can establish its own redevelopment agency.)  The intent of the agency is first to establish an area called "blighted" as a "redevelopment study area" and then after the agency's report on and plan for the area is complete to get state approval for the establishment of a "redevelopment project area" where the agency can collect property taxes via a formulation method called "Tax Increment Financing", or "TIF".

TIF is where we start with what's called a "base year" of assessed value of say, 1 million.  Then according to state law and re-established with the passage of Proposition 13 in 1998, the agency can mathmatically increase that value by 2 percent annually.  So say two years later, the project area has a value of $1,020,000.  The agency will add that percentage increase each year and have an increment of $30,000 and from that a tax revenue (at one percent of the increment) of $300 by the second year.

But let's say that's part of a bond the agency has floated and it's 20 years long.  That means the agency can collect a total of $194,000 in revenue from an increment of $20,400,000 minus the base-year assessed value.  Doesn't sound like a lot of money, right?  Well, project areas are much more valueable than a milion bucks, more like billions, so that TIF money can add up and can be used to provide "bridge loans" to developers trying to provide affordable housing in an area like East Palo Alto.  And that's why I asked "Where was the East Palo Alto Revelopment Agency?" in this whole "Page Mill Affair".

EPA's redevelopment planning mistake and a solution

According to an unnamed source, the reason the EPA was not and is not involved in the Page Mill issue is because the housing they purchased is not in a redevelopment project area so TIF funds can't be used to help Page Mill, and for reasons that are not clear to the person I talked to, the EPA's project areas were not drawn to include housing units.  The source also agrees that was a huge planning mistake.

From my experience, what EPA's agency did was to form the project area boundary lines such that money from office and retail developments - which are more expensive than housing - was captured. But the problem is they can't use the money for housing because the boundaries don't include the housing units that were later purchased by Page Mill Properties.

Another source says the other issue is simply one of money.  Even with its development activities, EPA is still a relatively poor city.  In cities like Oakland, where I worked for its redevelopment agency and two Oakland mayors Harris and Brown, we commonly approached developers to build projects using the money generated from our project areas as an attraction tool; EPA's agency doesn't have such wealth so it's far less likely to show up as, say, The International Council of Shopping Center's Spring Convention in Las Vegas, looking to do deals with developers. 

That written, EPA's redevelopment body and not Page Mill, which was a late-comer, has been at the forefront of gentrification in that city and as far back as 2001.  One example is the decision to help developers build an IKEA store rather than a grocery store, upseting some local residents.  Today, in his state of the city adress, EPA's Mayor Ruben Abrica points to IKEA as a symbol of the city's growth:

In East Palo Alto, "you can get the best Mexican food, the best barbecue, the best island food. You can even get Swedish meatballs up at IKEA."

And in the same speech, Mayor Abrica stressed the need to update the city's rent control laws, which started the whole problem with Page Mill and led to the unusual rate of subleted apartments that Page Mill discovered.  The evictions the activists complain about were - for the most part - actually those sublets; the tenants didn't even live there in those cases. Moreover, the East Palo Alto Rent Board was allowing arbitrary rent increases which Page Mill contends were given to tenants who were then "re-renting" their units. 

Now the EPA Rent Board is seeking the advice of the members of rent boards in Berkeley and Oakland to, as Mayor Abrica said "update the city's rent control laws".

Meanwhile the pace of gentrification continues and the EPA Redevelopment Agency has three project areas active, the University Circle, the Gateway/101 corridor, and the Ravenswood Industrial Area.  The University Circle Project Area includes a Four Seasons Hotel (called "The Four Seasons Silicon Valley")

All of this development, coupled with a general trend of African Americans spreading out in the Bay Area and while the population - at 7.5 percent in 2000 was projected to have decreased to 7 percent in 2007, has caused a reduction in EPA's Black population.

The African American population in EPA has given way to a diverse group of Latinos,  Asians, and Blacks but the city is still largely politically controlled by older African Americans.  It may have been this political rub between older Blacks who see what they knew fading away due to demographic change and gentrification and a White developer new to the EPA political scene, that led to the flurry of lawsuits from both sides.  But also a lack of good, sound technical expertise and input was and is the problem; politics has ruled the day even as the City of EPA has excellent professional staff.  They should listen to them.

The solution is the EPA's redevelopment project area boudaries need to be redrawn to incorporate the housing that Page Mill's upgrading.  The improved property values will be a new source of agency revenue that it can use with Page Mill to keep the units at affordable levels while maintaining Page Mill's ability to take care of them and realize a good rate of return on their investment. Moreover, EPA and Page Mill will emerge as true partners.  I admit re-drawing redevelopment boundaries is a time-consuming issue, but the rewards are worth it for city, building developer, and tenant.  To it's credit, Page Mill's Jim Shore, after I explained this idea, expressed to me that "We would be willing and happy to work with the (East Palo Alto) redevelopment agency." 

This is the kind of professional problem solving approach not brought to this issue by the activists who've attacked me.  As far I'm concerned, their lack of technical planning experience, and their unwillingness to work with people who have it, let alone really learn about redevelopment, and coupled with their desire to smear and demonize and harrass people have only made the Page Mill issue an ugly mess.  Unless they're willing to embrace an intelligent, professional, technical, detailed, urban planning approach, and advocate for EPA redevelopment project area redesign, they should stay out of this issue.

Oakland Blogger Party A Hoot!; Visit The Uptown District!

 

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Pican Restaurant is in the middle of the revived Uptown in Oakland.

Ok. After blasting the organizers of the previous Oakland Blogger's Party for not inviting me and for it being an "All Whites gathering" Oakland Blogger VSmoothe (A Better Oakland) was cool enough to invite me to last Wednesday's party, and you know, it was a good event with some diversity in the house. My only misgiving is that the folks' of color were not all active Oakland Bloggers like me or Michael Caton (An Oakland Citizen), or...VSmoothe or the good folks who write the Myrtle Street Review, who didn't make it but I'll get them to the next one!

(That's a bit of a prod to get it going, folks!)

But that written, it was a total blast! I'm happy to see that Oakland has a vibrant culture of people who care enough to write about what's happening in it. I love that they're engaged and it's good to see that they're active even as I'm off chasing windmills of national stardom and this television show of mine ; I'm all over the map and they're focused on Oakland. Thanks to Vivian for her critique of my Oakland Focus Blog's over stylized comment system (she can't see it) and always great to see the Oakland Legend Naomi Schiff of the Oakland Heritage Alliance, and of course, Libby Schaaf who really should be the Mayor of Oakland. (She's gonna kill me for that one, but it's true and insiders know that she's the only one who doesn't have any - as former Oakland City Manager Robert Bobb would put it - "sniper fire" coming at her from enemies.)
A good home base of people to keep me sane.

It was also cool to see all of the people waltz in and out of the event, like Phil Tagami, my long-time friend who just finished developing the Fox Oakland Theater (A place so nice, Sean Penn crossed the pond to see it.) and to who the City of Oakland owes a massive debt of gratitude, if they would for once stop being jealous of him (ah the Oakland Crabbarrel mentality!).

(By the way Phil, are you running for Mayor? What's up?)

But back to the party.

The real star was "Ave", (needs an updated website) the bar and eatery on 2020 Telegraph in the Uptown Entertainment District and next to the parking lot on Telegraph and Thomas Berkeley Ave, next to the Sears building - or across from it - and a hip place with the right amount of subdued lighting, and good wine and food. Stop by and try the pasta while you're watching the basketball game.

It's really cool to see Downtown Oakland just plain come alive with places to go and things to do after dark. I've got to admit, it's a little weird not crossing the bridge to find a party, now I've got to get my San Francisco friends over here where there's a "there, there" - finally!

If you've not been there, Pican Restaurant is a "must" on your restaurant list at 2955 Broadway and part of the Broadway / Grand Development. Try the mac and cheese and chicken or the salmon dish. It's the best in the Bay Area, and if you need a visual preview of the place, well the video above has it!

Accessory to Further

Accessory to Further
By Michael – Louis Ingram
BASN/FRO
 
“An NFL player who played 10 years in the league gets a pension of $2500 a month; yet in Major League Baseball, that same player over a similar period receives $10,000 a month (in spite of the fact pro football makes more money).We didn’t know we were going to live this long – everyone told us we would all be dead by age 55, and these guys that are out here, -- they’re hurting. And rather than address it, the NFLPA does things to defame and further diminish these men…”
-          Jane Arnett, wife of former NFL player “Jaguar Jon” Arnett, co- founder of the Retired Professional Athletes Association (RPAA), an advocacy group for ex-players.
 
In a few hours from now a handful of young men will have their names called in front of the grand stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York City; and an audience of millions of cable and satellite television viewers will see approximately 60 or so of these cats become millionaires -- literally overnight.
The National Football League presents this transformation every year in an orchestrated production called the NFL Draft, replete with pomp and fanfare as the next wave of gridiron gladiators are put out in public display before the masses.
It wasn’t that long ago where there were no bells and whistles, or continuous coverage or fantasy geeks to masturbate on statistics and create a cottage industry based on…potential.
   
 
Jane Arnett is someone who also believes in potential. As co – founder of the Retired Professional Athletes Association (RPAA), her goal is to help bring back dignity to those who labored for thousands so a few could make billions. “You know, we’re seeing an event – and that’s what it’s become, an event,” says Arnett. “The NFL Draft will call these young men and change their lives with relative ease; but they are so difficult in allowing some of the same men whose names were called long ago to reacquire their sense of self and bring quality of life back to their spirits.”  
As with these new millionaires, many of the retired heroes who are directly responsible for the Draft becoming Fat City for these kids came from the same talent pool; from schools like Penn State & Michigan; universities like Washington and Southern California; small schools like Occidental & Kutztown State; and historically Black colleges & universities like Grambling, Morgan State, and Florida A&M.
From the meager bonus dollars that may have bought a car or put down a payment on a house in the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s, the size of the contract and bonus money awarded to the first selection in this year’s 2009 NFL Draft will exceed the $28.1 million awarded to these same retired players, who won the amount in a class action suit – against their own union last year.
Apparently these words – “class action suit” are significantly diluted and remade as abomination in the aftermath of the ruling; there has been anything but class shown on the part of NFLPA/Players, Inc. counsel in paying out the cash; their stalling actions and vindictive attempts at appeal smack more of greedy family members waiting for an old relative to die so they can do whatever suits their own selfish interests with his remains, rather than have that uncle or grandfather live out the rest of his days with dignity.
And as a Matthew Stafford or a Jason Smith gets to put their “John Henry” on that first contract, the other side of the NFL’s mouth will scream bloody murder about being broke. Broke? How broke can you be when the first team on the clock, the Detroit Lions, who haven’t won a regular season game all last season have spent money on changing their logo?
Never mind the millions they will spend on improving the Lions; this is a team that in spite of going 0 – 16 all year (how do you make a highlight Yearbook film out of that?) are still worth far more than their Motor City counterparts:
 
According to numbers by Forbes.com, the Tigers, who did compete in a recent World Series, are worth $239 million; the Pistons, who have recent NBA championships to their credit, are worth $363 million; and the Detroit Red Wings, a perennial winner, a team and organization so dominant in the NHL hierarchy, they have earned the nickname “Hockeytown,” are worth three times less ($303 million) than the 0 – 16 Lions, who are worth $917 million.
Y’all didn’t hear me – I said $917 million. And Detroit (24th on the NFL value pole) is not even the lowest ranked team; that distinction belongs to the Minnesota Vikings, who are worth “only” $839 million dollars – in spite of being a playoff team last year!
You call that broke???
And the Lions that helped make that money were men like Bobby Layne, Charlie Sanders, Yale Lary, Patrick Studstill, Lem Barney, Joe Schmidt, Dick “Night Train” Lane, Altie Taylor, Darris McCord, Greg Landry, Mel Farr, Roger Brown, Alex Karras, Billy Sims – and Wayne Walker. 
Arnett, wife of Jon Arnett, a 10 year NFL veteran who played with the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears, formed RPAA in large part after seeing the plight of former players whose bodies, once young and strong have betrayed them with the ravages of time and scars on the gridiron. “All these players are very prideful, and are only asking for what they’ve earned; or at the very least, a chance to again earn some revenue and feel relevant again,” says Arnett. “But whenever we have sought to help out a player with a chance for work or to make a public appearance, the League is insistent in clamping down on what specifics allow for any affiliation – and it stinks.
“As the wife of a former player it is a struggle for many spouses and loved ones to handle the challenges of being with someone who they have to be caretaker, provider and often breadwinner because of circumstances due to ongoing medical, physical and emotional stresses which can tear couples and families apart.”
Given the amount of revenue garnered by advertising on the part of ESPN, the NFL Network and all other League – connected apparatus, the idea of continuing to maintain a hard line approach to men who only want their fair share remains a mystery to the most logical of minds.
 
Bernie Parrish, former Cleveland Browns defensive back and architect of the successful class action suit, when asked if the delaying tactics on the part of NFLPA were tantamount to them being an accessory to the murder of many players, replied, “I definitely feel that way. I’m in my early seventies, and many of my peers died off much earlier than they should have.
“The average lifespan for players has been hovering in the low - to – mid fifties, and the pain of enduring long – term issues of drug addiction, injuries, lack of proper medical care because of insurance companies not allowing for disability claims brings us back to where we started – the NFLPA’s violating their fiduciary duty – that means they stole our money; but they have ultimately taken more from us then that.
“The mantra has long been, ‘delay, deny, and hope we die’ – and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out this is what NFLPA has decided on as their modus operandi for showing their thanks to the men who built this League,” Parrish said.
The actions and inactions that have brought these factions to this point seem to have clearly defined the roles of the principals:
 
(“Heroes & Villians” – lyrics by Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks, performed by the Beach Boys)
I’ve been in this town so long that back in the city
I’ve been taken for lost and gone
And unknown for a long long time

Fell in love years ago
With an innocent girl
From the Spanish and Indian home
Home of the heroes and villains

Once at night Catillian squared the fight
And she was right in the rain of the bullets that eventually brought her down
But she’s still dancing in the night
Unafraid of what a dude’ll do in a town full of heroes and villains

Heroes and Villains; just see what you’ve done

Heroes and Villains; just see what you’ve done

Stand or fall I know there
Shall be peace in the valley
And its all an affair
Of my life with the heroes and villains

My children were raised
You know they suddenly rise
They started slow long ago
Head to toe healthy, wealthy and wise

I’ve been in this town so long
So long to the city
I’m fit with the stuff
To ride in the rough
And sunny down snuff I’m alright
By the heroes and

Heroes and Villains
Just see what you’ve done

Heroes and Villains
Just see what you’ve done
 
mike@footballreportersonline.com
 
 

Twitter Retains Fewer Users Than Facebook and MySpace? So?

 

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YouTube, MySpace, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Stupid Videos, Sclipo and Viddler

I saw an interesting blog post today over at Webguild.org reporting that Twitter is "Doomed" (in fact the title is "Twitter Doomed") and I had to laugh. There have been any number of people explaining either why they don't use Twitter or predicting its demise. There's even a website-style blog called "Twitter Backlash". But back to the post that got my laugh banks engaged and this sentence:

Apparently more than 60 percent of Twitter users fail to return the following month and pre-Oprah more than 70 percent of Twitter users failed to return to the site according to David Martin, Vice President, Nielsen Online.

Apparently Nielsen believes it appropriate to lump in Twitter with social networks like Facebook, MySpace, and others, and that's the problem. Twitter's a micro-blogging environment much more than a social network and thus should not be compared to Facebook and MySpace. Facebook and MySpace have places for photos of whatever you're doing or a place for installing your favorite music to share with others. That's not what Twitter's designed to do. Thus comparing them is lumping Apples with Oranges.

Twitter, again, is for the act of "micro-blogging" or explaining something in less than 150 characters. That's a system that can be and has been incorporated into a social network like Facebook, but it's not a social network like MySpace and Facebook.

I think what's happening is because one can communicate with others on Twitter, or have "friends", it's viewed as a social network as opposed to something that allows social-networking.

Two different actions.

In Facebook I have various pages, I'm a "fan" of President Obama, and I can see my friends photos, attend events I'm invited to, and play games they invite me to engage in (when I have time).

I can't do any of that on Twitter.

So it should come as no surprise that Twitter has a lower retention rate than Facebook or MySpace. Hey, people like to learn about other people which is what we use Facebook and other networks for. (Personally, I swear by Linkedin which I use far far more than MySpace.)

I don't see Twitter as a competitor to Facebook, but as complementary to Facebook. My Tweets go from my Twitter page out to my followers then onto my Facebook page and for good measure migrate over to my FriendFeed page as well. And my blogs are hooked in the same way: Blog to Twitter to Facebook to FriendFeed. Hey, that horizontal subscription count can add up!

The reason Twitter has a lower retention rate is simple: there's less there. It's a great place for the rapid transfer of information but that's it and you have to use it to understand its value.

Alas, Twitter doesn't have the revealing voyeur factor, so unless someone comes up with an app to send Paris Hilton sex tape through Twitter, the retention rates always going to be less than for Facebook, and that's just fine with me. Twitter's going through a shake out period where everyone thinks they have to use it. It's not for everyone. Eventually, we'll get rid of the wanna bees and be left with a really engaged Twitterverse.

Hooray!

New TV Show by Zennie62's On BART and Oscar Grant

On Saturday, May 2nd, my new television show starts. It's called "The Blog Report With Zennie62" and features the use of my video blogs in a weekly 30-minute format broadcast and co-produced by CoLoursTV in Denver. The start time is 3:30 PM Pacific Time, 6:30 PM Eastern Time and the show is replayed at 11:30 PM and 2:30 PM respecfully.

If you don't have a TV you can see the live stream at CoLoursTV.org. or Zennie62.com

The first show focused on selected events that occured after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Officer Johannes Mesherle on New Year's Day. It opens with my walk through a riot-ravaged downtown Oakland where I talked with many people about what happened, including a group of kids who were some of the rioters. Then we focus on the words of "DaveyD", America's foremost hiphop reporter and voice of the street, who shares his observations of how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums handled the situation. And finally we hear from Dellums himself. This is not the last time I will visit this issue, but it's a good place to start the show.

The standard format is to present politics, news, sports, and tech in some combination for each show. Sometimes it's me talking about an issue; other times it's me talking to someone else, and with this show we will feature the work of other video-bloggers. It's a vloggers' playground.

The show will have a deliberate vlogger feel. Videos that you see on my channels at YouTube, Blip.tv, and other places make up the show. There's no studio; the camcorder is the star instrument. That means we can go anywhere at anytime and quickly make a video. It also means I can share what's happening in the news on the blogsphere in video form and show it on "The Blog Report". A lot of ground we can cover considering I never dreamed of having my own television show, but this whole road I've taken has been totally unplanned by me.

"The Blog Report" all started last year when I met Art Thomas who's the Executive Vice President with CoLoursTV at a media walk-through for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He lived in Oakland before moving to Denver and so we had a lot to talk about. I was looking for a sponsor for our show at the time, so I sent a proposal to Thomas. That exchange turned into an idea for placing our videos on CoLoursTV and that became the concept called "The Blog Report With Zennie62".

Our first concern was how to get the videos up on television without a loss of at least the quality that is seen on Blip.tv and Viddler, which have the sharpest video uploads (that written, I love YouTube and the quality's really improved over time such that it's competitive with the two, but YouTube's best system is the website design and its "viral" nature as well as The YouTube Partner program.) I think we solved that problem and I understand the TV version looks even better than what you're going to see here.

I look forward to your feedback and questions. We're seeking sponsors and there are some organizations we simply want to establish strategic partnerships with, so please contact me. The possibilities for this are many and should serve as an example for a possble future for newspapers as well.

If you're a video-blogger located anywhere in the World and have material that's not longer than 4 minutes tops, notify me via email at zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com and we'll go from there. I prefer the video is already uploaded on some site, Brightcove, Blip.tv, YouTube, etc, so I can see it.

I wish to thank Art Thomas, Damon Purdy, and Tracy Winchester of CoLours TV, as well as Steve and Bernard who made me look good in the promo. I also wish to thank Google / YouTube for their support and encouragement and specifically Chad, Emily, and Hunter. A big loud shot-out to the iReport team at CNN: Lila, Henry, Rachel, David, Nicole Saldi, and the rest. And thanks to the team at CNN Special Projects, Errol and Jessica, and to Roland Martin and his staff at CNN for discovering me. Finally, thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle for seeing the value in how I do what I'm doing and providing a platform. To the National Football League and Commissioner Roger Goodell, Greg Aiello, and Frank Supovitz ("Mr. Super Bowl") And of course, thanks to my Mom and my relatives in Chicago and Tennessee.

Amazon Defense Coalition A Fake Company Created By Hinton Communications For Chevron Ecuador Case

Ok.  Here's one for the books.  Because I dare bring a balanced view of the Chevron Ecuador case, Karen Hinton of Hinton Communications decides that I must be paid by Chevron.  In other words, no one can possibly take a middle ground position, or even think that one exists.

The problem is that it does.  Moreover, I have evidence here that the claims against Chevron are part of Ecuador's plan to clear the Amazon of foreign oil interests and replace them with state-owned Petroecuador's oil drilling activities.  Ecuador cares about the poor of the Amazon far less than it cares about extracting petrodollars from the Amazon. 

A Front For Ecuador and Petroecuador

Ok.  Let's do some house-cleaning over the mess Hinton Communications has left for me to clean up.  The first fact is this:  the "Amazon Defense Coalition" does not exist except in the mind of Karen Hinton.  It's presented as a firm, a group, a company, but Hinton is the only constant spokesperson who issues material for this supposedly operating organization.

In point of fact, there's no "Amazon Defense Coalition" there's no website, no office, no president, no secretary and no budget.  The only person who is consistently listed is Hinton herself.  What she's done, in a brilliant stroke of PR genius that I've got to stop and admire for a second, is to consistently flood the Internet with press release after press release with the words "Amazon Defense Coalition" on the title, so what comes up in a search is for "Amazon Defense Coalition" are results with that listing, so the layperson says "Well, there is an Amazon Defense Coalition because of all these search results."

Yeah.  Right.  Look deeper.

The vast majority of the results are reprints of the same press releases Hinton sends out.  There's no evidence of anyone consistently writing for the "Amazon Defense Coalition" other than Hinton herself or Hinton Communications.  It's no wonder a Google lookup of "Amazon Defense Coalition Hinton" shows over 3,000 results!  

Karen Hinton should come clean and reveal what I already know: that her American company is working for the President of Ecuador Rafael Correa as a foreign agent and appears to be financed by them.

Hinton's ties in this matter are deep.  She's linked with Washington lobbyist Ben Barnes, who's linked with Steve Donziger, of the law firm Kohn, Swift, and Graft (who hired Barnes), and who's the master lawyer in the lawsuit against Chevron and who may be getting resources from the Ecuadorian government, too.   Indeed, the The Ben Barnes Group is listed as one of Hinton's clients and Hinton's the Amazon Defense Coalition so one can effectively say that Barnes has a major role in the Amazon Defense Coalition because it's really just Hinton who's paid by Barnes, who in turn is paid by Donziger / Kohn, Swift, and Graft, who must get its money from the Ecuadorian government, because they too stand to rake in billions, even with the one-third award stake Donziger will gain should he prevail in these legal battles.    It's worth the investment. 

The Ben Barnes Group is an effective lobbying organization, and its founder, Barnes, has made millions doing deals between special interest groups, companies, and powerful Democratic office-holders.  Barnes has served as the spokesperson for R. Allen Stanford, who's the focal point of the Stanford Investment Scandal. (To be fair, Barnes says he has played no role in Stanford's business dealings and is said to be "shocked and saddened" by the allegations against his friend and client.) 

It's hotly rumored that The Barnes Group hired former Speaker of the California Assembly, San Francisco Mayor, and SF Chronicle Columnist Willie Brown to work with them and Donziger against Chevron in the Ecuador case, and that news is "loose" because my friends - and I have a lot of them - tell me Willie's yappin' about the deal all over San Francisco!  I wonder how much of this gravy train he's going to take in? 

Nice.

President Correa, Donziger, Barnes, and Hinton care about bucks, not the people of the Amazon.  And it's questionable at best that President Correa himself really cares about the poor people of the Amazon over oil exploration, as he would have others believe.  Indeed, in 2007, Correa's advanced a proposal where countries would pay them $4 billion to protect a part of their country called Yasuni National Park in the Amazon from oil exploration, but if they didn't get the money, Ecuador itself will drill for oil there anyway!

Guess what?  They didn't get the money!  That led to a new round of drilling that effected the Yasuni National Park, which is supposed to be the "protected area" according to the "World Rainforest Movement" which reports:

In December 2008, the Waorani denounced new oil exploration activities in the Cononaco oilfield. In order to appease the community, the Ecuadorian state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, paid them 35,000 dollars. But these new activities affect the Yasuní National Park, a protected area.

Previous oil operations in Cononaco have been inspected as part of the trial underway against Texaco, since the activities in the field were undertaken by this multinational oil giant. Of the 35 samples taken, 30 showed readings higher than those permitted by law.

The area in question forms part of both the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve and the Waorani people’s ancestral territory, and the contamination caused by oil activities there directly affects Yasuní National Park.

When the pipeline between the Auca and Cononaco oilfields burst in 2006, the resulting oil spill contaminated the Tiputini River which runs through the National Park. But the new exploration activity is even more menacing, because it is taking place in areas vital to the survival of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.

So much for Ecuador's real concern about their own people, let alone the environment. Ecuador fans will say President Correa stopped oil exploration in the area, but he didn't stop it.  He put a stay on it.  That means after June 2009, oil exploration activities start again.  The Amazon is a revenue generator for Ecuador, but Correa knows he can't effectively win a lawsuit against Chevron and stick it to Ecuador's poor at the same time, so he made a brilliant political move designed to get him good press.

For a month.

If the "Amazon Defense Coalition" really cares about the Amazon, ask Karen Hinton why Correa's planning another round of oil exploration in the Yasuni National Park area?   Don't ask "SOSYasuni" because they cover for the Ecuadorian Government.  Indeed, by first asking for Western oil companies for payment to protect Yasuni, then threatening to drill for oil themselves (using Petroecuador) if they don't get the money, Ecuador's trying to crowd-out its own oil market from foreign interests and pave the way for the state-owned Petroecuador and the Petroecuador-owned Petroamazonas S.A to drill and gain revenue.   A very clever campaign.

Petroamazonas S.A  got the rights to drill at "Block 31" from Ecuador, which retook control from the Brazilian-owned oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras in 2008:

Petroamazonas, which is majority-owned by state oil company Petroecuador, is looking for financing from multilateral lenders and foreign countries to develop block 31, but Pastor didn't give details.
"We are in talks to get financing. If we obtain financing this block will be developed this year. We plan to drill around 14 wells," Pastor said.
Last year, the Ecuadorian government and Brazil's state-run oil firm, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, agreed to finish the contract for block 31, which was transferred to the state.
Block 31 has 200,000 hectares, some of this within the Yasuni National Park, which Unesco has declared a world biosphere reserve.

To the press, it looked like Ecuador's Correa was being an environmental hero, but in point of fact, he was just gathering more Ecuadorian territory to be drilled by the Ecuadorian government.  U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp was litterally kicked out of the country and while Chevron / Texaco left long ago, Ecuador's trying to extort money from them via this disingenuous environmental damage claim ; the indigenious people of the Yasuni area are an afterthought both to them and to Donziger's people; the color of money is the only green they care about.  Have doubts?  Ask Steve Donziger if he would work for free.

Joanne Colan Leaves Rocketboom

Ok, this is old news, but it's news. After three years and replacing Amanda Congdon, Rocketboom host Joanne Colan says "I'm outta here!"...Sorta.

Jack Kemp: Star Athlete and Politician Passes at 73

At this stage in history, 73 is considered young by some. It's at that age Congressman Jack Kemp passed away on Saturday. Of all Republicans, Representative Kemp is one I held in great respect. He wasn't the kind of conservative that demonized liberals. He was a gentleman and a football player that representated the best of the NFL.

This thing we call cancer -- which felled Kemp -- must be beated at all costs. It's all I read about of late, someone's death due to cancer.

President Obama: 5/2/09: Your Weekly Address

whitehouse: In this Weekly Address, the President discusses the government's response to the 2009 H1N1 flu virus, urging that there is no need to panic but explaining that the federal government and American people nonetheless should take the necessary precautions.

73% of voters want a choice of a private or public health insurance plan.

Have you told your U.S. Representative and/or Senator? It's not about which party somebody identifies with, folks; this idea has incredibly broad support among ALL voters, and it's totally congruent with what the President is trying to achieve.

Broken down by party affiliation, it's:

77% of Democrats
79% of Independents
63% of Republicans

Write 3 letters before the Senate committee meeting on Tuesday to make sure your voice is heard in D.C. before it's all over but the earmarks. Write one to the Representative of your congressional district, and one to each of your Senators (except in Minnesota, of course, where there's only one Senator.) Make sure your elected represenatives realize that this has overwhelming support among voters - all voters.

Special interests are being heard - are you?

"While recent polling has shown consistent broad support for comprehensive health care reform, this poll specifically addressed whether people want a choice of a public health insurance plan. 73% of voters want a choice of a private or public health insurance plan, including Democrats (77%), Independents (79%), and Republicans (63%)"

The firm also tested the insurance industry's message about public health care and paired it with a message supporting it, and found the public to be far more receptive to the pro-public health care message:

"62% of voters believe a public health insurance plan will spend less on
profits and administration and force private insurers to compete while only 28% of voters believe the attack that a public health insurance plan would be a "big, government bureaucracy." 60% believe that if private insurers are really more efficient than government, then they won't have any trouble competing with a public health insurance plan. Only 23% believe a public health insurance plan would have an unfair advantage over private plans."

This polling was conducted for the pro-reform group Health Care for America Now.

But it goes beyond polls. There are hugely authoritative, respected voices pointing out that the system as it's been allowed to evolve is inefficient. It doesn't serve us well even though it does pay CEOs hefty bonuses and keep lobbyists busy. Tell your Senators and Representative what the Chief Economist of the World Bank says:

"...private healthcare insurers do not know how to deliver an efficient way..."

World Bank Chief Economist, Joseph Stiglitz

People who work hard for their money deserve to have a voice in how it's spent. The insurance industry and their lobbyists have been writing rules that boost their profits not protect Americans, and tax-payers are tired of bailing them out while worrying if we'll even have jobs. We need our leaders to take control and look out for our interests, not special interests.

Put it in your words, and write those three emails in the next 24 hours, two or three paragraphs is all it takes, then get three more people to do the same.

Why are doctors for reform? Maybe it's because places such as Duke Medical center need more billing clerks than nurses.

Why are special interests fighting it, donating money to the campaigns of key U.S. Senators such as Baucus and Murray? Maybe it's because they know their extravagant bonuses will come to an end. They're in it for the money, after all.

You've got all the facts you need right here: Make sure D.C. knows that we know the facts, and we're tired of paying for them to ignore what's right for the rest of us.

President Obama Goes "Three-For-Three" In UConn Shootout

In a video that's just plain fun to watch President Barack Obama hosts the National Champion University of Connecticut Women's Basketball Team at The White House and in an impromptu game of P-I-G, hits three straight shots from about 17 feet out.



What's so cool about President Obama is he's one of us,not the staid person that we've come to expect our leaders to be. He's a much needed breath of fresh air.

New TV Show by Zennie62's On BART and Oscar Grant

 

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On Saturday, May 2nd, my new television show starts. It's called "The Blog Report With Zennie62" and features the use of my video blogs in a weekly 30-minute format broadcast and co-produced by CoLoursTV in Denver and on Channel 9407 nationwide on the DISH Network, but it's on Comcast in Florida, and Fox and Insight cable systems. The start time is 3:30 PM Pacific Time, 6:30 PM Eastern Time and the show is replayed at 11:30 PM and 2:30 PM respecfully.

If you don't have a TV you can see the live stream at CoLoursTV.org. or Zennie62.com

This first show focused on selected events that occured after the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Officer Johannes Mesherle on New Year's Day. It opens with my walk through a riot-ravaged downtown Oakland where I talked with many people about what happened, including a group of kids who were some of the rioters and that was eye-opening. Then we focus on the words of "DaveyD", America's foremost hiphop reporter and voice of the street, who shares his observations of how Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums handled the situation. And finally we hear from Mayor Dellums himself. This is not the last time I will visit this issue, but it's a good place to start the show.

The standard format is to present politics, news, sports, and tech in some combination for each show. Sometimes it's me talking about an issue; other times it's me talking to someone else, and with this show we will feature the work of other video-bloggers. It's a vloggers' playground.

The show will have a deliberate vlogger feel. Videos that you see on my channels at YouTube, Blip.tv, and other places make up the show. There's no studio; the camcorder is the star instrument. That means we can go anywhere at anytime and quickly make a video. It also means I can share what's happening in the news on the blogsphere in video form and show it on "The Blog Report". A lot of ground we can cover considering I never dreamed of having my own television show, but this whole road I've taken has been totally unplanned by me.

"The Blog Report" all started last year when I met Art Thomas who's the Executive Vice President with CoLoursTV at a media walk-through for the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He lived in Oakland before moving to Denver and so we had a lot to talk about. I was looking for a sponsor for our show at the time, so I sent a proposal to Thomas. That exchange turned into an idea for placing our videos on CoLoursTV and that became the concept called "The Blog Report With Zennie62".

Our first concern was how to get the videos up on television without a loss of at least the quality that is seen on Blip.tv and Viddler, which have the sharpest video uploads (that written, I love YouTube and the quality's really improved over time such that it's competitive with the two, but YouTube's best system is the website design and its "viral" nature as well as The YouTube Partner program.) I think we solved that problem and I understand the TV version looks even better than what you're going to see here.

I look forward to your feedback and questions. We're seeking sponsors and there are some organizations we simply want to establish strategic partnerships with, so please contact me. The possibilities for this are many and should serve as an example for a possble future for newspapers as well.

If you're a video-blogger located anywhere in the World and have material that's not longer than 4 minutes tops, notify me via email at zennie@sportsbusinesssims.com and we'll go from there. I prefer the video is already uploaded on some site, Brightcove, Blip.tv, YouTube, etc, so I can see it.

I wish to thank Art Thomas, Damon Purdy, and Tracy Winchester of CoLours TV, as well as Steve and Bernard and Michaa who made me look good in the promo. I also wish to thank Google / YouTube for their support and encouragement and specifically Chad, Emily, and Hunter. A big loud shot-out to the iReport team at CNN: Lila, Henry, Rachel, David, Nicole Saldi, and the rest. And thanks to the team at CNN Special Projects, Errol and Jessica, and to Roland Martin and his staff at CNN for discovering me.

Finally, thanks to the San Francisco Chronicle for seeing the value in how I do what I'm doing and providing a platform. To the National Football League and Commissioner Roger Goodell, Greg Aiello, and Frank Supovitz ("Mr. Super Bowl"). And thanks to my good friends Beth Schnitzer, Randy Gordon, Bill Boyd, Lars Frykman, Dana Santa Cruz, Phil Tagami, Ted Tagami, Chris De Benedetti, Molly Fuller, and at WISE and others (And you know who you are!) and to Bill Chackhes who's my New York connection and taught me all the Yiddish I know! To Michael Bean and Will Glass-Hussain at Forio Business Simulations for just being there and getting after me when I needed to be gotten after! To my political friends, Dawn, Ashley, and Tom and everyone that's not mentioned but in my heart!

Thanks to my co-founders at SBS: Dan, Mark, Lloyd, and Kristin! Thanks to the Oakland Mayor's Office, and to the Oakland Police Department. And thanks to Sierra Choi for being a good friend to crazy me. And of course, thanks to my Mom and my relatives in Oakland, Chicago and Tennessee.

With that, enjoy the show.

Oh and if you're wondering how we made the promo, here's that video:

Condoleezza Rice meets with some students

This is at Stanford and by YouTuber reynagarcia621

Michael Vick To Be Spokesperson For PETA

 

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Yep, you read this right.  According to AdAge.com Atlanta Falcons former quarterback Michael Vick is reportedly "in talks" to be a spokesperson for PETA.  He's ready to do a series of ads for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals when he's released from jail later in May.  Vick wants to clean-up his image as a dog-killer and reenter society with the problems stemming from his dog fighting business a thing of the past.

You know, as silly as it reads and sounds, Vick may just be able to do it.  It depends on the commercial and how it's done.  If it comes off as Vick just proclaiming his love for dogs, I'm not so sure. (See my video) But if it's done as more of a documentary style, then yes.  That would work. 

Everyone deserves a second chance, and that's certainly true for Vick.  But let's be honest, too.  Michael Vick is very concerned he will not be able to achieve the lifestyle he once enjoyed again.  He wants the bling.  He also wants to play football and knows that's the only way he's going to have even a snowballs' chance in the hell he's created for himself to do that.

I root for Vick because I met him at a 1999 EA Sports Super Bowl party in Atlanta and when Vick was still in college but a star, and I was really shocked at how much a fish-out-of-water he seemed to be.  I really believe he surrounded himself with the wrong kind of people at a very young age and didn't know any better. 

Now he does, but what a price he's paid over the last two years.

More on this soon.

Gay Marriage Issue Will Revive The GOP

 

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Gay Marriage: the act of a man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman will be the issue that revives the Republican Party.

Consider that for the first time, more Americans - including myself - support Gay Marriage than oppose it 49 percent to 46 percent according to the latest Washington Post / ABC Poll. But that near 50-50 split is common in many polls and shows that as the idea becomes more mainstream there's a healthy opposition to it.

We saw this recently in the comments by Miss California Carrie Prejean who said she believes marriage should be between a man and a woman and who parlayed her new fame into a gig working as a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage, while angering famous blogger Perez Hilton, who fired off a nasty retort using the "B-word."

That's the shape of things to come, but let's see where we really are because the media can make it seem as if Gay Marriage is already the norm, but it's not. As of November 2008, 29 states passed constitutional amendments barring the recognition of same sex marriage, so the majority of states still don't back it, even as Maine and New Hampshire seem set to approve it.

See, rather than becoming less of a wedge issue, it's more so.

As more people speak in favor of it, we have more who speak against it, and that's the political dynamic that could hurt us democrats.

We could have an election contest pitting two Black candidates, one Democrat and pro Gay Marriage, the other Republican and not, but basically having the same positions as his more liberal challenger. The way society is moving the GOP candidate could win. Recognition of this is already starting to split the Democratic Party, but the overriding economic problems are the glue that binds us for now. But for how long?

The real issue is the civil right of a person to marry who they want, not sexual orientation.

Look, about half the women I've dated said they were lesbian and still slept with me. Some of them are now married to men and have kids!

On top of that, we have websites like Ashley Madison.com that encourage married couples to cheat on each other!

It all spells one big anarchnistic, me-ism mess. My prediction is that over the next 25 years this hyper-fluidity in relationships will give way to a desire for something predictable.

But the road to that place will be rocky, with political groups, lawsuits charging sexual abandonment, and a newly revived GOP.

Buckle up!

President Obama, Pick Kathleen Sullivan For Supreme Court Judge

 

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Supreme Court Judge David Souter plans to retire at 69 years of age, according to Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio and which she announced today. President Barack Obama has a great opportunity to begin to remake the Supreme Court by installing a real legal scholar who's work and life has impacted many people. That person is Professor Kathleen Sullivan.

Professor Sullivan, like President Obama, is a constitutional law scholar which means she focuses on the interpretation and implementation of the U.S. Constitution. The importance of that can't be understated as we see a flurry of new laws to control speech and behavior (think laws curbing the use of "cuss" words for example) and their conflict with civil liberties. And as the Supreme Court is the place for the consideration fo the U.S. Constitution, it's logical to have a constitutional law professor on the bench.

But who is Kathleen Sullivan?

Professor Sullivan is 53 years old and was born August 20, 1555 in Michigan. She went to Cornell, then to Oxford, where she was a Marshal Scholar, and finally earned her J.D. at Harvard Law School in 1981. It was there, the legendary Professor Lawrence Tribe called her the most extraordinary student he ever had. She's a co-author of the casebook "Constitutional Law" as well as several other books including "The New Federalist Papers."

The person named one of the 100 most influential women in business was Dean of The Stanford Law School from 1999 to 2004 where she recruited such legal luminaries as cyberlaw expert Larry Lessig, raised over $63 million, and established a clinical law practice in East Palo Alto to give students more real world experience. After her time as Dean, she established a new center of constitutional law.

As a private practice lawyer, Ms. Sullivan has a diverse client list, from Republican Senator Mitch McConnell to the City of Honolulu, ABC Television, Hearst Publications and the San Francisco Chronicle in the BALCO case, and Siebel Systems, to name some of them.

She is perhaps the best intellectually qualified person to replace Justice Souter. Her work, particularly in the New Federalist Papers, reveals a mind able to grasp and explain the interplay between technology, social change, and The Constitution. Kathleen Sullivan is the perfect choice and the fact that she's lesbian should not be an issue for anyone.

.

Page Mill Properties, Zennie Abraham, and Middle Ground

 

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I just received a call from Paul Hogarth who's a tenant activist, lawyer and a singer. He seemed interested in why I would write anything even half-way supportive of Page Mill Properties, which has been embroiled in controversy surrounding tenants and the rent control system in East Palo Alto. To recap, Page Mill Properties now owns over 1,700 units that they took over (not built) and rehabilitated. I got a tip that was a hot story and so went down to get information via video. What I found was that Page Mill would talk to me but the tenant activist at the center of the story, Chris Lund, would not.

That did not stop Lund from calling me every day sometimes four times a day asking about my association with Page Mill. Each time he never wanted to go and talk with me on the record. Then via a weird set of associations, Julian Davis who I helped on the Prop H Campaign told Andy Blue that I was a paid blogger and so must be in this case -- not true. Again, at the time, no one from the tenants side would talk to me, and Page Mill did on video.

I've called Tenants Together and hope that they will sit down with me; I'm told by Page Mill Properties Tenants Together has never sat down with them to help resolve anything at all. But as for Paul, I think he's less interested in telling the story which includes the East Palo Alto Redevelopment Agency and more interested in shutting me up.

As for me, and perhaps this will help, I'm pro-developer and pro-Redevelopment Agency but not anti-tenant. I believe governments should do the work of making it affordable to develop and maintain affordable rents. My good friend Kofi Bonner runs Lennar Development here in San Francisco and while the project is not perfect and the Redevelopment Agency needs to merge all of their project areas (more on that latter) I know what the issues are and how to solve them. I am an expert on how redevelopment agencies work and what they do. I know how to make and read housing development balance sheets. And I have a right to my point of view without harassment.

Paul Hogarth can try to shoot this messenger, but I'm going to keep talking and pointing a finger at the East Palo Alto Redevelopment Agency.

What bothers me most is every week I get an email from someone using the "N" word and that I can't identify. Hogarth asked me "Why are you with SFGate?" as if I should not be here and while I don't think it's him or anyone associated with him, given their behavior how do I know?

What's going on, I do not know.

It's not a good thing to have to delete these emails let alone get them; how do I know where they come from, especially if I get weird treatment from activists? As to how I make money, I'm a YouTube Partner. More about that later.

Susan Boyle v. Hollie Steel? Boyle Should Quit BGT Now!

 

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The Worldwide sensation Susan Boyle, who was discovered to rave reviews on the show Britains' Got Talent is now faced with her second "big challenger" in as many weeks on the show, 10-year-old Hollie Steel and a process that threatens to dampen Boyle's chance for real success. The small girl from Britain wowed the crowd last Saturday on yet another show.

Steel makes the second talent to emerge as a possible challenge to Boyle for the winner of the competition in as many weeks, as we were introduced to 12-year-old Shaheen Jafargholi just the weekend before, and calls into question the ability of Boyle to maintain the high level frenzy that catapulted her to stardome. What I fear is that as BGT rolls out new challengers, Boyle's ability to capture a high dollar record deal will be impacted. The only solution for Boyle is to drop out of Britains' Got Talent, and sign a record deal before the end of May.

Why the end of May?  It's simple. 

Because to date this entire affair has been engineered by the producers of BGT, who taped the show in January and are engineering the release of auditions and information on all of the talent that appeared, including Susan Boyle. With each passing week that a new talent is trotted out, two things happen: 1) the appetite people have to see her online lessens, and 2) the new talent draws the attention of the people who were hungry for more of Susan's voice, but weren't getting it.

By quiting BGT, Boyle takes the PR control away from that show's producers and puts it into her lap. She can take advantage of this by recording one or who "teaser" songs and putting them on YouTube and other video distribution channels, and working on a record deal that will fetch more money now that one two months from now.

I think Ms. Boyle's brother is right on. Susan Boyle, while you're out on that date with BGT Judge Piers Morgan, talk to him about getting you out of BGT (after all, he just said you would not win it) and into a record deal so we can hear more of you before it's too late and the system eats what it created.

Ah, that's you.

NFL DRAFT Sets record for Viewership and Internet page views

Record 39 Million Fans Tune Into 2009 NFL Draft On NFL Network, ESPN & ESPN2
04/28/2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
4/28/09



RECORD 39 MILLION FANS TUNE INTO 2009 NFL DRAFT
ON NFL NETWORK, ESPN & ESPN2

First-Round Coverage Outdraws All Weekend
Basketball, Hockey & Baseball Games

Fans Spend More Time on NFL.com


A record 39 million viewers tuned in to watch the 2009 NFL Draft on NFL Network, ESPN and ESPN2, according to Nielsen Media Research. The total audience for the 2009 NFL Draft is an increase of nearly 2.5 million viewers from 2008 and tops the record of 38 million viewers set in 2007. Total NFL Draft viewership has increased 66 percent from 2001 to 2009 (from 23.5 million to 39 million).

First-round coverage of the Draft drew a combined average viewership of 6.3 million viewers on ESPN and NFL Network – exceeding the average viewership of the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Yankees-Red Sox; 4.6 million viewers), FOX’s Saturday Baseball (Yankees-Red Sox and Cubs-Cardinals; 4.1 million) and all other weekend NBA and NHL playoff action (topped by NBA Playoffs First-Round Game 4 on ABC, Cavaliers-Pistons; 5.4 million viewers).

Fans visiting NFL.com on Draft weekend spent a record average of 45 minutes on the site – up 153 percent from a year ago. Visitors to NFL.com over the weekend increased 28 percent over 2008 while video streams accessed were up 65 percent. In addition, fans viewed three times more NFL.com Draft content on their wireless devices than a year ago.

More than 48,000 fans followed the NFL Draft via the NFL's Twitter pages. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell's Draft tweets were read by 3,690 followers. NFL Network's Rich Eisen drew 4,383 followers and posted 309 updates throughout the network's two-day draft coverage. NFL Network analyst Jamie Dukes had more than 1,500 followers.

Oakland A's Owner Wolff's Anti-Oakland Words Called "Sob Story" By Oakland City Attorney

 

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In a strongly worded letter I just received as of this writing from the office of Oakland City Attorney John Russo (and is reproduced in full at the end of this post), Oakland's lawyer penned what is without a doubt the strongest attack on the Oakland Athletics attempts to leave Oakland by and Oakland City Official. Russo writes:

Oakland A’s managing partner Lew Wolff is a talented and smart businessman.


But if Wolff thinks anybody is buying his sob story about why the A’s have to leave Oakland, he’s seriously underestimating the intelligence of the team’s fan base, the press and the people of this city.

 

Oakland City Attorney John Russo with me in 2008 in his office. 

What started this has been a process of dissing and trying to excavate the team from Oakland almost since it was sold to Ken Schott and Steve Hoffman after the beloved Haas Family sold the organization in 1994; Schott and Hoffman then sold the team to the ownership group headed by Wolff. In fact, the Haas family put the team up for sale under the condition that it remain in Oakland; a desire basically ignored by the last two ownership groups, at least by their actions.

Schott and Hoffman entertained the idea of moving the A's to Sacramento as far back as 1996, (and I know this personally because when I was Economic Advisor to Mayor Elihu Harris I met John McCasey, who was then and still is now the Executive Director of the Sacramento Sports Commission at a Cal Football game, and who sold me openly they were trying to lure the organization out of Oakland and the owners were receptive; news I quickly communicated to Mayor Harris.) Mr. Wolff and his operatives have - according to a source via email - talked with San Jose officials about moving the A's there as far back as just after they gained control of the Oakland A's in 2005.

That means the "moves" Wolff was making to keep the A's in Oakland were for all practical purposes not "real" and considering the impossible timetable Wolff gave the City of Oakland to come up with a development plan, then the politically unrealistic one that Wolff wanted which called for the relocation of 80 businesses, it seems Oakland was being "played" all the time.

That, and other actions including my intelligence that the current meetings with the Major League Baseball Committee regarding assessing Oakland's ability to be a host for a baseball team aren't going well, and you have Russo's tirade of a letter. He also writes:

Here is the truth: A’s owners and Major League Baseball have been plotting to abandon Oakland for at least 10 years. They have never been partners in the city’s efforts to build a new stadium and keep the franchise in Oakland.

Collusion between A’s owners and the league has been evident since 1999, after a settlement gave Oakland and Alameda County the right to force a sale of the team to different owners. A team of buyers committed to keeping the club in Oakland stepped up and a price was set. But, for the first time in anyone’s memory, Major League Baseball denied the transfer of a franchise to a qualified ownership group.

City leaders – former Mayor Jerry Brown and former City Manager Robert Bobb – even tried to attend a baseball owners meeting to present the plan to transfer ownership. But they were treated as presumptuous interlopers and denied the opportunity to pitch the plan. The Lords of Baseball made it clear that they do not see American cities as partners, but rather as ATMs that exist to provide them with ever greater amounts of taxpayer dollars.

I exchanged text messages with Russo to determine if this meant the City of Oakland was preparing legal action against the A's and Major League Baseball. He wrote: "I was thinking about other interested parties who might feel that an A's move to San Jose would violate that interested parties contractual rights."

He means the San Francisco Giants.

The Major League Agreement, which governs the actions of Major League Baseball and its member organizations, spells out exactly what counties in the San Francisco Bay Area belong to the Giants:

The Giants' territory includes San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey and Marin Counties, plus Santa Clara County with respect to another major league team.

Again, read that. Santa Clara County includes San Jose. Thus, San Jose is the San Francisco Giants' official territory, a fact that seems lost on some media types down there.

And with respect to the A's..

The Athletics' territory includes Alameda and Contra Costa Counties;

Now many observers will say that all the Athletics brass needs is for 75 percent of the owners of Major League Baseball to approve the move, but a little known rule "52" blocks that action allowing the Giants to block the move of "any major league or minor league team from playing within 15 miles of its territory without permission."

The Giants could argue the A's are already within their territorial limits established by Rule 52 and any closer move into it would be economically harmful. But what's more important and interesting to me is the possible joint legal assault this seems to signal, one pitting the Giants and the City of Oakland against the Oakland A's and Major League Baseball. With such heavy-hitters as Senator's Boxer and Feinstein on the side of the City of Oakland and the San Francisco Giants, and the City and County of San Francisco, I would not bet against them.

Here's Russo's full letter:

Keeping the A's in Oakland
By City Attorney John Russo

Oakland A’s managing partner Lew Wolff is a talented and smart businessman.

But if Wolff thinks anybody is buying his sob story about why the A’s have to leave Oakland, he’s seriously underestimating the intelligence of the team’s fan base, the press and the people of this city.

Wolff has been telling reporters and anyone who will listen that the A’s have done everything possible to build a new ballpark and stay in Oakland. As Wolff put it in a recent press release, the team has “exhausted (its) time and resources over the years” with the city.

Claiming the A’s have made an exhaustive effort to stay in Oakland is like George W. Bush saying he did everything he could to stay out of Iraq – it’s not a “reality-based” statement.

Here is the truth: A’s owners and Major League Baseball have been plotting to abandon Oakland for at least 10 years. They have never been partners in the city’s efforts to build a new stadium and keep the franchise in Oakland.

Collusion between A’s owners and the league has been evident since 1999, after a settlement gave Oakland and Alameda County the right to force a sale of the team to different owners. A team of buyers committed to keeping the club in Oakland stepped up and a price was set. But, for the first time in anyone’s memory, Major League Baseball denied the transfer of a franchise to a qualified ownership group.

City leaders – former Mayor Jerry Brown and former City Manager Robert Bobb – even tried to attend a baseball owners meeting to present the plan to transfer ownership. But they were treated as presumptuous interlopers and denied the opportunity to pitch the plan. The Lords of Baseball made it clear that they do not see American cities as partners, but rather as ATMs that exist to provide them with ever greater amounts of taxpayer dollars.

A few years later, when Oakland hired HOK, the nation’s most respected stadium architects, to look at possible sites for a new ballpark, the A’s refused to provide any support for the firm’s search. The city brought together a commission of business and community leaders to work on options for a new stadium, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on staff time and consultants. However, the team demonstrated no interest in the process or in the architect’s favored site – a spot in downtown Oakland, next to two BART stations, with enough land for the city and the team to build a dream ballpark. Instead of a new ballpark at the site, we now have condos.

It’s telling that Wolff’s only proposal to stay in Oakland depended on the city using eminent domain to take the property of about 100 blue-collar businesses in East Oakland. The proposal came in August 2005, just two months after a Supreme Court ruling – Kelo v. City of New London – that decidedly turned the public against the use of eminent domain for private development. Wolff is too smart to not know that his proposal was totally unrealistic.

Mayor Ron Dellums and other Oakland leaders have made it clear that the city is prepared to continue working on feasible options for a new ballpark.

Moving the A’s to San Jose – which is contractually Giants territory – would require a special deal with Wolff’s old fraternity brother, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. Such a deal would be a blatant example of collusion in baseball and would likely be tied up in court for years.

The idea that the A’s have made a real, exhaustive effort to stay is disingenuous at best. With some imagination and a real partnership among the city, the business community and the ball club, the A’s could build a new ballpark and remain the team of the people of the East Bay.

It shouldn’t take an act of congress to compel the Lords of Baseball to give Oakland a fair shot.

Oakland A's On SFGate.com

FBI Arrests Oklahoma Teabagger For Twitter Threats

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The Daily Show on Bachmann “speaking crazy to power”

“Minnesota Representative and free-range cougar” Michele Bachmann got prominent play on The Daily Show last night as a key example of conservatives “speaking crazy to power.” At 2:50 into the clip (below), host Jon Stewart plays Bachmann’s recent comments that an expansion of the AmeriCorps program might lead to PC “re-education camps.”

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Judge Says It’s "High Time" We Legalized Marijuana

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How an FBI agent got Abu Zubaydah to talk without Torture.

‘We Could Have Done This the Right Way’

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GOP Legislators Fought Pandemic Preparedness

When David Obey (D-WI), a longtime champion of pandemic preparation, included $900 million for that purpose in the stimulus package, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans. The Republicans essentially succeeded: the Senate version of the stimulus included no money whatsoever for pandemic preparedness.

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Fox manipulates Obama video to produce false quote

During the April 24 edition of Fox News' Special Report, White House correspondent Wendell Goler cropped a comment by President Obama and took it out of context -- effectively reversing the statement's meaning -- to falsely suggest that Obama supports creating a health care system "like the European countries."

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Arlen Specter To Switch Parties ... Dems now filibuster-proof!

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning. Specter's decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in.

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YouTube and Apple Almost One: QuickTime Sync With YouTube

 

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For whatever reason - proximity to each other in Silicon Valley, a mutual admiration for the culture of each firm, or more concretely Apple's constant drive to make its computers the best for video-bloggers - it seems Apple Computer and YouTube are all but one company.

Consider that according to Apple Insider, Apple now has built in support for YouTube across all of the latest versions of its main product lines: IPhone, Apple TV, iMovie, and now QuickTime. Soon, you will be able to directly upload your QuickTime-based video to YouTube right from the upcoming QuickTime X Player software (and part of the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating system to be released this summer).

Why is this a big deal?

Consider what a video-blogger has to do as of this writing to upload a video. Let's take the one I installed today regarding ESPN and The Oakland Raiders. First, I used my Flip Video Camera to record my monologue, then took the camcorder and plugged it into my MacBook. That action opened the Flip Video software and I downloaded the clips I created. Then I opened iMovie6 (I'm not a fan of the current version of iMovie), edited and compressed the clips, and the result was a ".mov" file that I can open in QuickTime. Instead I used TubeMogul to upload the video to multiple sites including YouTube, Blip.tv, and Viddler.

(As a note, never use just one video-distribution site. You'll be sorry. More on why in a later installment.)

Now there are occasions where my video files are larger than 500 MB, making TubeMogul unusable. For those scenarios and this new provision I could just open QuickTime and do the uploading from there. What I love is Apple Computer has made creating video-blogs a nearly super simple task. And YouTube has altered its site such that its easier than ever to actually earn revenue from making videos and promoting ones channel. To digress for a moment, I can now embed a small version of my YouTube channel on a blog or website, like so:



But the bottom line is the constant advance of the mating of Apple and YouTube for the benefit of video-bloggers. Videoblogging is the next frontier of media but many people are still intimidated by it. Hopefully as these developments continue, more and more people will take up videoblogging in much the same way they blog today.