OaklandNews - Oakland news from blogs, newspapers and other media

A 25-year-old San Leandro man described as a promising rapper was shot to death Friday night at an East Oakland apartment complex, police said. He was identified as Ayoola Matthew Odumuyiwa, who performed under the name ”Pretty Black,” police said. He was found with multiple gunshot wounds about 9:44 p.m. Friday in an apartment complex in the 2600 block of Alvingroom Court, which runs off MacArthur Boulevard not far from Castlemont High School.

Moses Singh has about 17 pairs of sneakers. But these days his favorite by far are the ones he and his classmates have designed for their business project.

Moses and his classmates have spent the entire school year creating Colorful Kicks, tennis shoe line company They have written a 30-page marketing and business plan, completed market research and prepared financial statements.

Grief and anger consumed her then, and it still does. But the tragic, senseless loss of her son has motivated her, too. She formed Grieving Mothers On a Mission, or GMOM, to try and do whatever she can to spare other parents the agony she has experienced.

There was a purse-snatching on Grand Avenue, near the corner of Bellevue Avenue, at 6:30 p.m., and an armed robbery on Jayne Avenue around midnight. This is the second armed robbery that we've heard of this month. More details on APAC_14x yahoo group and the HarriOak Crime Blog. Who can stop the violence? Rank-and-file Oakland police officers say they are voting for Sean Sullivan.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A reader sent in this commentary this morning. The reader asked to remain anonymous for reasons explained at the bottom of the post. I know there are some other people in the neighborhood who feel differently from this reader.  If they want to write something in support of Nadel, please send it to harrioak and yahoo dot com and I will post it. Alternatively, you can request to be added as a regular contributor and post your commentary yourself.

Headlines about Oakland are often dominated by news of violent street crime, drugs and prostitution.

A summit schedule for Saturday is designed to focus on a more positive side of the East Bay’s largest city.

The very same people sponsoring a November ballot measure to hire 270 more Oakland cops are spending tens of thousands of dollars in the final days of the campaign trying to elect city council at-large candidate Kerry Hamill. In addition, Hamill appears to be coordinating with the supposedly independent political group supporting her campaign in violation of California law.

A prominent Oakland business group has spent nearly $100,000 in the final weeks of the campaign trying effect the outcome of three June 3 city council races. OakPAC, the political arm of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, has blanketed the city with glossy mailers and billboards supporting its favored candidates and attacking their foes in District One, District Five, and the at-large race, newly released campaign finance records show.

The stretch of Edes Avenue just east of 105th Avenue in Oakland’s Sobrante Park neighborhood is bleak at best.

Fresh graffiti wind along tall wooden fences, some topped with razor wire. A stone’s throw away is Tyrone Carney Park, a drug-and-violence-plagued patch that the city fenced off after a fatal shooting in 2002.

It seems an unlikely place for a retiring CEO to build a home, but Roger Haughton of Alamo was literally doing just that on Friday as part of a Habitat for Humanity project.

“I got involved 15 years ago and have been hooked ever since,” Haughton said.

Lenore Anderson, the top aide to Mayor Ron Dellums on public safety issues, is leaving her post in the mayor’s administration less than one year after she came on board. Anderson, an attorney, will be taking a job with the office of San Francisco District Attorney Kamala D. Harris.

Photo via Flickr by smashz (Licensed under Creative Commons)

From Jean Quan’s monthly newsletter:

Groundbreaking for the new East Oakland Community Library at 81st Avenue at Rudsdale, Friday, May 30, 10-11am: At 21,000 square feet, this will be the largest branch in the Oakland Public Library system. This is one of my longest on-going projects. I worked to get the joint application through the School Board in collaboration with Ignacio DeLaFuente; then as a Council Member helped keep the project on course. It will also be the first joint public library-school facility in Oakland. The $14.3 million project is funded by a $6.5 million grant from the State of California’s Proposition 14 and $4 million from the Oakland Redevelopment Agency.

Related: Officials break ground on new East Oakland library, Oakland Tribune

Also of note:
Studio One reopens on Saturday
The Rededication of the Firestorm Memorial Garden is Sunday

More events and info here.

Two men are in custody today for allegedly breaking into a downtown Oakland building hours after it was raided by federal drug agents during a marijuana investigation, authorities said.

If you’re in the mood for some Oakland love, head over to Luka’s tonight. Super cool DJs Zita and Dmadness will unleash their lovin’ with classic hip hop, dancehall — and of course, lots of Oakland love. The club night is called, rather appropriately, We love the town.

IF THERE WERE ever a city crying out for leadership, it’s Oakland. Unfortunately, for the most part, Oakland voters can expect more of the same old, same old from most of the candidates running in Tuesday’s City Council primaries.

Five of the eight council seats are up for grabs. Here are the Tribune recommendations:

Bright and early this morning, the three-member Special Committee on Admissions, Attendance and Boundaries (Kerry Hamill, Gary Yee and Chris Dobbins) unanimously agreed that the district should give the younger siblings of current students top admissions priority in school admissions, regardless of where they live, followed by neighborhood children who don’t have a brother or sister enrolled at the school.

So I don’t think I’m going to be getting to those school board debates after all, and I am sorry for that. I will be putting up an endorsements blog on Monday, so I’ll have a shorter overview of those races then. Right now, I’m completely spent on election stuff and exhausted and just wish Tuesday would be here already.

When you’re stressed and tired, humor becomes especially important for maintaining sanity. So I’d like to share with my readers the three things that made me laugh the most yesterday.

An administrative assistant and a retired private school principal aim to unseat incumbent Alice Spearman in the race to represent District 7 on the Oakland school board.

Oakland contractor Josef Corbin's approach to life is pretty straightforward: Whenever he sees an opportunity or an advantage, he runs with it. The bad news is that until 1996, he used that motivation as a street hustler, stealing and robbing on the streets...

I thought that last week’s column had completed my discussion of the “Safe Streets And Neighborhoods Act of 2008”—the proposed ballot initiative that would increase Oakland’s police force by 272 officers to a total of 1075—and Mayor Ron Dellums’ counter-proposal of a property tax increase initiative to increase OPD’s strength by 50 to 803.

However, now comes the May 25 Matier & Ross item in the San Francisco Chronicle concerning the issue, and an interesting comment by Dellums Chief of Staff David Chai, and an addendum is clearly in order.