In 2007, it was alleged Oakland Council- member Larry Reid asked for a new air- conditioning unit in exchange for favors in Oakland for a contractor. OAKLAND CITY COUNCILWhy did Larry Reid disclose last week that a prospective Oakland cannabis… Read More ›
Lynette McElhaney
2017 Year in East Bay Politics: Part II: April-June: Richmond’s Ellis loses Dem chair race
2017 YEAR IN EAST BAY POLITICSHeading into the spring, most a number of East Bay cities had already moved toward declaring sanctuary city status. Some began contemplating the next step: urging Congress to impeach Trump. But issues closer to home… Read More ›
Coliseum JPA says it will not participate in fan-backed proposed lawsuit against Raiders
COLISEUM JPAA fan-generated proposal to sue the Raiders and the National Football League over the team’s move to Las Vegas took a significant hit Friday after Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority declined to participate in the lawsuit. The plan took a… Read More ›
McElhaney, Reid propose Oakland city department to curb violence
Oakland Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney and Larry Reid, below, want to create a city department to stop homicides. OAKLAND CITY COUNCILWhile gun violence continues to be a perennial problem in Oakland, two councilmembers believe one solution is to create a… Read More ›
Oakland council, school board incumbents win easily; Kaplan dominates
Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan rolled to victory Tuesday night. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL |ELECTION 2016 |Although, there were late murmurs asserting a few Oakland City Council incumbents might face difficulty on Election Night, all five were swept to re-election Tuesday night,… Read More ›
McElhaney’s potential censure hearing gets pushed to after the election
Oakland Councilmember Desley Brooks called her collegaues on the rules committee “spinles wonders.” OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL |Despite a round of aspersions against the Oakland City Council cast by Councilmember Desley Brooks and members of the public Thursday morning, potential censure… Read More ›
BUSTED! ‘Sick’ McElhaney caught playing hooky from Oakland council meeting
Oakland Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney is becoming her own worst nightmare for re-election. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL |ELECTION 2016 |A much-anticipated fundraiser for New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker hosted by Rep. Barbara Lee was held Tuesday night at the Oakland… Read More ›
EBCampaign: Did FREMONT’S MAYOR get left hanging? ALAMEDA COUNTY DEMS slam grand jury for racial bias
42 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY |Fremont’s City Hall chambers–not really much of a hall, really, nor a chambers–was packed Friday night to hear from mayoral candidates Mayor Bill Harrison and Vice Mayor Lily Mei. Growth, whether smart, dumb, or ravenous,… Read More ›
McElhaney’s purge and the dud of an election season coming to Oakland
Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney is avoids a potentially bruising re-election after just a single challenger qualified for November. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | ELECTION 2016 |And then there was one. Oakland City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney appeared to most observers to… Read More ›
EBCampaign: Baker is tied to the Trump Train; Council candidates line up in Oakland, Alameda
94 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY |As the dynamics of the presidential election begin to take hold, it’s becoming increasingly clear that East Bay Republican Assemblymember Catharine Baker‘s fate will rest with The Donald. The 16th Assembly District only slightly favors… Read More ›
EAST BAY POLITICAL YEAR-IN-REVIEW: July-September 2015
JULY Hayward city workers finally get a new contract. >>>With its political implications to be determined in the 2016 city council election next year, the City of Hayward and more than 300 city employees finally agree to a new contract…. Read More ›
Rise in Ellis Act evictions in Oakland is a trend, says city staff
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | The number of Ellis Act evictions in Oakland has more than doubled in the past six months, according to the city’s rent adjustment program manager. And without greater compensation awarded to tenants to relocate to another… Read More ›
Jean Quan is thinking about a comeback
Jean Quan, right, as a council member in 2011 at a protest for Oscar Grant. Insiders says she’s thinking about a return to the council in 2016. OAKLAND | 2016 | Granted, it’s early. But Oakland’s 2016 election season is… Read More ›
Uber’s Head of People and Places can’t pronounce names of Oakland officials
Renee Atwood, Uber’s global head of people and places OAKLAND | Uber is coming to Oakland. The ride-hailing company will move into the vacant Sears Building on Nineteenth Street and Broadway in 2017, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced Wednesday. Or,… Read More ›
Assembly passes bullhook ban similar to Oakland ordinance passed last year
The bullhooks will be gone from circus in California starting in 2018. ASSEMBLY | It appears the Oakland City Council is a trend-setter, at least, when it comes to eliminating the gruesome use of the bullhook to control circus elephants…. Read More ›
City Hall Insider: council agenda notes from around the East Bay, June 22-24
OAKLAND/June 22, 5 p.m.City Council presents its own budget; housing report MCELHNAEY BUDGET PROPOSAL Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney’s budget proposal released June 19 adds to the mayor’s plan focusing on public safety, jobs and infrastructure. Within the council proposal… Read More ›
Oakland committee moves Lake Merritt luxury tower deal for council approval
Oakland Councilmember Abel Guillen’s plan to conduct a new appraisal of the parcel was rebuffed by the committee. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | The proposed sale of the vacant Lake Merritt property, known as the 12th Street remainder parcel, has frustrated… Read More ›
ON THE AGENDA: Oakland discusses ordinance on dept of race; improving police recruitment
Councilmember Noel Gallo wants to reaffirm all complaints against OPD be heard by the Citizens’ Police Review Board. Oakland City Council Committees1 Frank Ogawa Plaza, first floorTuesday, Mar. 24, 2015, starts at 9:30 a.m.Twitter hashtag: #oakmtg FINANCE & MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE… Read More ›
Gallo wants McElhaney to publicly address ethics allegations against her
Councilmember Noel Gallo wants Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney to address newpaper’s allegations against her. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | At least one member of the Oakland City Council is willing to speak publicly on the multiple controversies surrounding council President… Read More ›
Report: Oakland councilmember used her office for personal gain
Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | Two thousand fifteen has not been pleasant for new Oakland City Council President Lynette McElhaney. First, a report in January found she may have been flipping homes in her West Oakland… Read More ›
Police and race relations in Oakland headline an eventful discussion
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | It may have been Oakland’s most eventful public meeting in recent memory. Rep. Barbara Lee called for protesters to continue applying pressure toward alleviating social and economic equity and ridding the city of police brutality at… Read More ›
Oakland’s Next Council President is Lynette Gibson McElhaney
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney is the Oakland City Council’s next president. The first-term council member was named to head the City Council at a special meeting Monday morning that also included the swearing-in of two new… Read More ›
Labor leads compromise pushing bullhook ban in Oakland to 2017
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | The use of bullhooks and other implements for controlling circus elephants will be banned in Oakland starting in late 2017 after city councilmembers reached a compromise agreement to phase-in the prohibition rather than the beginning of… Read More ›
Oakland City Council will decide whether to ban the bullhook at circus next week
An elephant trainer holding a bullhook. OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | One year after the Oakland City Council passed a watered down ordinance regulating the safety of circus performances in the city, a proposed new law would go further by banning… Read More ›
Oakland Minimum Wage Ordinance Stalls, Boosting Chances of Ballot Initiative
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | An Oakland ordinance that would have gradually increased the citywide minimum wage over the next three years failed Tuesday night while bolstering the likelihood a more liberal ballot measure hoping to raise it to $12.25 will… Read More ›
Contaminated Soil Used to Fill Trench Halts Work on Oakland Army Base Project
Groundbreaking last November for the first phase of the Oakland Global project. PHOTO/Steven Tavares OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | A subcontractor doing work at the Oakland Army improperly filled a utility trench with approximately 20,000 cubic yards of untested soil left over… Read More ›
Oakland City Council Not On Board with Fossil Fuels Rolling Through
Activist before Tuesday’s Oakland City Council meeting in support of a resolution against transport of fossil fuels. PHOTO/Steven Tavares OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | The Oakland City Council is thinking globally and acting locally. On Tuesday, it passed two resolutions hoping… Read More ›
Oakland Councilman’s $10.20 Minimum Wage Ordinance Held in Committee
OAKLAND CITY COUNCIL | An Oakland City Council ordinance that would enact a citywide minimum wage of $10.20 was held in committee Tuesday while staff continues to study the issue. Meanwhile, a potential local initiative for the November ballot to… Read More ›
Oakland Sets Timetable for Placing Public Safety Parcel Tax on November Ballot
OAKLAND | CITY COUNCIL | If Oaklanders approve a renewal of Measure Y later this year, the parcel tax passed a decade ago to fund public safety, its success will lie in transparency, Councilmember Noel Gallo said Tuesday. The Oakland… Read More ›
Oakland’s Nuclear Free Zone Law Proving Troublesome for Future of DAC
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 ›