OAKLAND/June 1, 10 a.m.Controversial issues, budget talks continue in OaklandBUDGET NITTY-GRITTY The arduous tasks of listening to budget presentations from each of the city’s departments begin during a special meeting of the City Council on Monday morning. The agenda also… Read More ›
Oakland City Council will decide Tuesday whether to accept a $578,000 Homeland Security grant. Oakland City Council Preview1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, third floorTuesday, April 21, 2015, 7 p.m.[FULL AGENDA HERE] Twitter hashtag: #oakmtg HOMELAND SECURITY GRANT Any time grant funding from the U.S. Department… Read More ›
Oakland Councilmember Noel Gallo: “Our right to privacy is being challenged by the tools we carry,” he said, including smartphones. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | Since the initial unveiling of a controversial citywide surveillance hub in Oakland in 2013, opponents have… Read More ›
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. OAKLAND | Is Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf enjoying a free pass from the press that her predecessor Jean Quan never enjoyed? Yes. Example: the press scrum that followed Schaaf on a tour of Oakland schools earlier… Read More ›
Einstein: by all accounts, the Oakland mayoral race is destined to be vicious. PHOTO/OccupyOakland OAKLAND | MAYOR | Twenty humans believe they have a shot at unseating Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. Add one canine named Einstein. The political pooch added his… Read More ›
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | PRIVACY | Oakland’s Domain Awareness Center is being rolled back to its original purpose as a port-only surveillance project. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan cast the tie-breaking vote early Wednesday morning approving an amendment that considerably limits… Read More ›
Oakland City Council Preview1 Frank Ogawa PlazaTuesday, Mar. 4, 5:30 p.m.[FULL AGENDA HERE]Twitter hashtag: #oakmtg >>> REASON TO FILL OUT A SPEAKER’S CARD Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney’s speech Feb. 18 against the DAC may have turned the tide against its… Read More ›
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | DAC | Privacy groups are aggressively lobbying members of the Oakland City Council to vote Tuesday night against a resolution approving a $1.6 million contract for the second phase of the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). In… Read More ›
Oakland City Council Preview1 Frank Ogawa PlazaTuesday, Feb. 18, 5:30 p.m.[FULL AGENDA HERE]Twitter hashtag: #oakmtg >>> REASON TO FILL OUT A SPEAKER’S CARDTHE DAC IS BACK City staff needed more time to determine whether Schneider Electric is eligible under Oakland’s Nuclear… Read More ›
Oakland City Council Preview1 Frank Ogawa PlazaTuesday, Feb. 4, 5:30 p.m.[FULL AGENDA HERE]Twitter hashtag: #oakmtg >>> REASON TO FILL OUT A SPEAKER’S CARDWHAT’S NOT ON THE AGENDA You will be hard pressed to find an Oakland City Council meeting this… Read More ›
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | PRIVACY | Oakland’s Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Ordinance is adding quite a bit of snowy static for future of the Domain Awareness Center (DAC). The City Council’s Public Safety Committee moved forward a recommendation to select… Read More ›
Oakland City Council Committee Preview1 Frank Ogawa PlazaTuesday, Jan. 28, begins at 9:30 a.m.Hashtag: #oakmtg >>> PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEEDAC RETURNS In a committee item likely to attract a great deal of attention from Oakland’s vocal privacy activists, the public safety… Read More ›
Civil rights attorney Dan Siegel announces his run for mayor Thursday morning at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland. PHOTO/Steven Tavares ELECTION 2014| OAKLAND | MAYOR | Civil rights attorney Dan Siegel laid out a distinctively progressive platform as he formally announced… Read More ›
2013 YEAR-IN-REVIEW | Boy, was it a boring night. After hundreds of meetings over the past few years, the Bay Area’s housing and transportation leaders were poised to approve Plan Bay Area, a far-reaching 30-year plan that would prepare the… Read More ›
Replica of a drone sought by the Alameda County Sheriff in Feb. PHOTO/Shane Bond 1. Public privacy under siege>>> The potent issue of government infringement on public privacy through technology was barely on the national radar a year ago and non-existent… Read More ›
Oakland businessman Bill Adoudi addresses the Oakland City Council in November. PHOTO/Steven Tavares 2013 YEAR-IN-REVIEW | The atmosphere inside the Oakland City Council chambers often acts as a mirror reflecting your true beliefs toward the city. If you find the… Read More ›
July 2013 KTVU anchor Tori Campbell >>> The words are simply enough: “Captain Sum Ting Wong, Wi Tu Lo, Ho Lee Fuk and Dang Ding Ow.” KTVU takes considerable heat for allowing the erroneous names of four Asiana Airlines pilots… Read More ›
Oakland City Council meeting Nov. 19. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | ANALYSIS | There are times when even the most veteran of journalists drop their editorial guard and reveal exactly how they think. Most people in Oakland know San Francisco Chronicle… Read More ›
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | The controversial Oakland Domain Awareness Center moved closer to reality early Wednesday morning as the Oakland City Council gave approval for the city administrator to move forward with selecting a vendor for the port and citywide surveillance hub set to… Read More ›
Councilmember Kalb’s public ethics group began work this week. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL//ETHICS | Oakland Councilmember Dan Kalb took a moment Monday to speak for the entire council. “There’s a sense out there in the community that residents have lost trust… Read More ›
SAN LEANDRO//PRIVACY | San Leandro City Council approved to move ahead with expanding its video surveillance system, however, with hesitation over the one-year retention period of information collected by the cameras. The council approved, 5-2, directing staff to formulate a plan for additional cameras… Read More ›
SAN LEANDRO CITY COUNCIL//PRVACY | The use of license plate readers by police in the name of public protection has been debated before in San Leandro. Now, its police chief wants to install the controversial plate readers in two undisclosed… Read More ›
Drone replica displayed last February in Alameda County. PHOTO/Shane Bond ASSEMBLY//DRONES/PRIVACY | As two high-profile drone bills sit in Assemby, members of its Public Safety Committee continue to grapple with the rapidly changing growth and privacy implication that stems from the potential use… Read More ›
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | At a time when Americans are increasingly skeptical of government surveillance in their lives, the Oakland City Council reversed the trend early Wednesday morning by authorizing funding for a large-scale citywide surveillance center backed by federal stimulus dollars. As… Read More ›
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL//PRIVACY | Oakland’s plan to link disparate video feeds across the city and port into one massive data center is drawing intense criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. In a letter sent Wednesday to… Read More ›
SUNDAY COLUMN | Last week, Joshua Daniels, a frequent tweeter and participant in the Twitter hashtag #oakmtg, a collectively agreed upon moniker to sift commentary of Oakland City Council’s meetings into one easy-to-find spot, seemed like the only person in… Read More ›
The Domain Awareness Center began as a federal grant for port security, but has expanded to include more of Oakland. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | The approval of $2 million in federal funding for a citywide surveillance center in Oakland was… Read More ›
Multiple camera and data feeds from across Oakland would flow to a proposedvideo and information center. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL//PRIVACY | In the next year, authorized personnel in Oakland will be able access multiple video feeds from a large swath of the city, along… Read More ›
