Oakland Report’s Newsstand is a daily roundup of Oakland news from across the spectrum — a one-stop destination for readers to keep abreast of what’s happening in The Town. “I got 5” features the top five headlines we found interesting or notable this week.
1. Reality star Kash (Mackayla Paige) was accidentally killed by her half-sister, police say
Video circulating online appears to show Paige (Kash) fighting with another person near Oakland’s Cave Lounge on October 12. Paige’s half-sister, Vernika Dunbar is seen attempting to pistol-whip the person Paige was fighting with, when the gun appears to go off, shooting Paige. Dunbar was arrested and has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, according to news reports. Read more…
2. Oakland to unveil “Black Panther Party Boulevard” street name on stretch of Broadway
City council approved a commemorative street name on Broadway between 14th and 17th streets. A ribbon-cutting is to be held today to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party’s founding.
Previous honorees include Black Panther co-founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, former Black Panther chairwoman Elaine Brown, music artists Tupac Shakur, Too $hort, D’wayne Wiggins, and Pete and Sheila Escovedo, NBA hall-of-famer Gary Payton, journalist Chauncey Bailey, and martial arts and film star Bruce Lee. Read more…
3. Costco moves closer to opening its first warehouse in Oakland
Newly filed plans reveal a massive store at the former Oakland Army Base site that could bring roughly 400 jobs and millions in tax revenue for the city. The new store would include a gas station and over 900 parking spaces. Read more…
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4. Left out: what Oaklandside’s election profiles don’t mention — and who comes out ahead
An analysis The Oaklandside’s candidate profiles — three school board races and the District 2 council race — found that the same things consistently went unreported: the Oakland Educators Association (OEA) teachers union’s role, and the political endorsements and money behind the candidates.
Candidates whom OEA endorsed seemingly came out ahead in Oaklandside’s profiles; the candidate OEA opposes drew the most negative descriptors. For example, OEA’s political action committee had spent about $15,000 to support school board incumbents Jennifer Brouhard and Valarie Bachelor as of September 19, but this was left out of the profiles.
Oaklandside promised to publish a follow-up story about political donations and endorsements on September 22, but the story still hasn’t run as of October 17 — nearly two weeks after ballots went out. Read more…
5. Oakland city public union votes to strike
Over 2,000 city of Oakland workers in public sector union SEIU Local 1021 have voted overwhelmingly to strike. SEIU (Service Employees International Union) is a major contributor to Oakland political campaigns.
In announcing the strike vote, SEIU cites the city’s “pervasive understaffing, with more than one in five budgeted positions unfilled across the City, unfair bargaining practices during contract negotiations… and a number of proposed cuts to take-home pay, increased benefits costs, and other takeaways.”
Last month, the city struck an agreement with another city union, Oakland Police Officer’s Association (OPOA), in which that union made benefit concessions by agreeing to pay a 10% share of employees’ Kaiser health premiums (the city had previously been paying 100%), and by paying a larger share into their pensions. SEIU’s most recent contracts included no employee payments toward their Kaiser premiums, and the city paying 100%.
Notably, the OPOA contract includes a “me too” clause that would give it the difference if other city unions extract more favorable terms in their contracts. Read more…
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SEIU needs to hire a mathematician or someone with basic logic. This statement is inane: “pervasive understaffing, with more than one in five budgeted positions unfilled”blah blah blah. Do they not know that salary savings from unfilled positions can be used to help with the City’s huge budget deficit? And that it’s a way to a certain extent to reduce the number of layoffs they will ultimately have to do in order to deal with the out of control spending? Where is the budget for huge raises for them that they want going to come from if all those positions are filled? Just like the rest of the U.S., Oakland staff are going to have to learn how to do more (or at least the same) with less. And I strongly believe there is still fat to be cut from that outsized City government.
The Panthers were the worst thing that ever happened to the black community in Oakland. And now they’re celebrating them. We might as well be celebrating Felix Mitchell and the 69th St. Mob and whatever other gang warlords have ruined Oakland. This is how far-left and far-LOST the City Council has become.