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Airline Marketing Oakland As 'The Wild Side Of San Francisco' Angers Residents

Jack Morse — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 16:30:00 GMT

It's well established that Oakland is San Francisco's Brooklyn, right? Well, maybe not according to international Australian airline Qantas, which is excitedly marketing the other city by the Bay to its many customers as like San Francisco, but you know, edgier. "Introducing Oakland," a huge splash page on an Oakland feature reads, "the wild side of San Francisco."

This, likely, would have gone unnoticed by Oakland residents had an employee of Visit Oakland, a non-profit booster organization trying to increase tourism for the city, not posted the image to her Facebook page. The response was swift, reports CBS 5, and generally displeased.

“Oakland is magnificently Oakland," the channel reports Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks as writing in response, "not in the shadow of anythingand not the comical ‘wild side.’ I didn’t and don’t approve of this marketing campaign."

Not so if you ask Qantas, which prints a stereotype-laden first-person narrative of one writer's "whirlwind 24-hour visit through the wilder corners of the city."

"Technically, Oakland is a city completely separate from San Francisco," the post helpfully begins, before noting that even though "for plenty of residents, the East Bay Area is just an outer suburb of SF, an easy commute from city jobs, gigs and restaurants," it excels at "breathing gnarly creative energy into the spare industrial landscape."

Qantas, for its part, doesn't even fly to OAK — so to visit San Francisco's "wild side," you'll fist have to book a ticket to SFO. How tame.

Southwest Flight Returns To Oakland For Emergency Landing After Four Tense Hours Of Circling

Jack Morse — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 16:30:00 GMT

A holiday horror show happened aboard a Southwest Airlines flight bound for Chicago Wednesday morning. A 6 a.m. flight from Oakland airport had a problem with its landing gear, which was identified by the pilot quickly, but he then announced that the plane would have to burn its fuel before returning to Oakland.

The 139 passengers then had to endure a tense holding pattern, circling over Tracy for the next four hours and doing a flyby as air traffic control checked out the plane's gear, as ABC 7 reports.

“Everyone was very concerned because we thought we were having engine trouble, then we found out it was the landing gear,” passenger Ashley Stasio told the Chronicle once she was safely back on the ground. “It was scary.”

The paper noted that the plane has been taken out of service, and ABC 7 reported that at least one traveler opted not to travel today after the incident.

Smoke OAK: Airport Security Official Busted For Drug Smuggling

Jack Morse — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 16:20:00 GMT

It seems that for at least one Oakland International Airport security officer the temptation to abuse her position of power was just too (ahem) high. Federal officials have charged the officer with using her status at the airport to facilitate the smuggling of marijuana for the past two years.

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed yesterday accuses the woman, 28-year-old Kiana Scott Clark, of working with a partner to facilitate the transport of "100 kilograms and more of marijuana,” according to the Chronicle.

The paper notes that Clark is "charged with four counts of conspiracy, two for obstructing the operations of the Transportation Security Administration and two for conspiracy to distribute controlled substances."

Clark was nabbed after a joint (pun not intended this time) investigation by the FBI and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. The charges against her are no joke, and could result in a minimum sentence of five years if she is found guilty.

This calls to mind a recent case at SFO where three airport screeners were indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges this past November for allegedly allowing cocaine through the screening process in exchange for money.

It also calls to mind the March case of yet another SFO TSA screener accused of working to smuggle pounds of methamphetamine through the airport.

Who knew there were so many criminal masterminds working for the TSA? Well, other than the Feds, obviously.

Jason Giambi Returns To The A's. What For?

SFist Christopher Rogers — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:05:42 GMT

When he came up with the A's, he grew into a genial homespun hero.

Then he left for money, and became a steroided diminishing-returns disgrace.

Now he's back in Oakland?

What-th'-hell

Couldn't he have signed with LAD or LAA?

Get you gone, prodigal douche.

* Photo via AP.

for?

Berkeley Tree-Sitters Sentenced

Brock Keeling — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:29:40 GMT

Three of the privileged youths who protested the removal of the Berkeley oak grove were sentenced in Berkeley on Monday. Kingman Lim and Zachary RunningWolf Brown, both ground supporters, and Michael Schuck, a tree-sitter, were handed five-day jail sentences and "found to be in contempt of court." Judge Marshall Whitley in Alameda County Superior Court also ordered them to pay an undetermined amount toward the University of California's attorney fees. Six other tree protesters were sentenced to 50 hours of community service. (Oakland Tribune)

Tree-Sitters Hurling Toilet Waste at Arborists?

Brock Keeling — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:39:10 GMT

Charming. The spoiled children high atop the Berkeley redwood have, of course, resorted to (allegedly) throwing their urine and fecal matter at arborists trying to get them down. (Yeah. Fight the power. Idiots.) If you recall, some people under the false impression that they're making a difference have quickly turned an attempt to save a patch of trees into one of Berkeley's most massive protest fails to date. They are scheduled to get ripped from said trees any moment now.

Cal Tree-Sitter Money Shot Expected Today

Brock Keeling — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:33:40 GMT

Whether pro or con saving the oak tree grove on the UCB campus, it's safe to say that we're all looking forward to seeing just how how the last few tree-sitters are extracted. This morning, cherry pickers and scaffolding have been fashioned around redwood tree where the last few remaining protesters sit. (And below? Protesters this morning are benignly screaming like children, banging drums, and burning sage. Jesus.) While campus authorities decline to say when or how they plan on getting them down, we're going to go ahead and say tranquilizer darts sometime this afternoon. Stay tuned! (Oh hey, there are 20 some odd magnolia trees ready to be ripped out on Third and Harrison streets in San Francisco, activists. Just so you know.)

Cal Gets Another Green Light to Cut Down Annoying Oaks

Brock Keeling — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:43:11 GMT

Oak tree advocates and a neighborhood group be damned! A state appeals court gave UCB the go-ahead to put up the sports training center next to Memorial Stadium, effectively hammering the final nail in the Save the Oaks coffin. This is yet another ruling in favor of hacking down the old oaks, and a win for "more than 400 student athletes who will now have the safe and suitable facilities they deserve," according to Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour. And the project will finally -- finally! -- start sometime....well, no one knows yet. The few remaining protesters will remain up in the trees until further notice. Hrumph. (SFGate)

Look Out Below: UC Berkeley Tree Sitter Falls From Oak

Brock Keeling — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:33:07 GMT

Last night 24-year-old Memorial Oak Grove tree-sitter Nate Hill fell on his tushie after plummeting 40 feet out of the tree. He suffered both a broken wrist and ankle, but is in fine, fighting, camera-ready condition.

He was trying to get out of the tree, via a traverse line, to visit his poppa waiting down below. But it seems that he was not, in fact, on the line, and then took a nasty fall while trying to ride the non-existent traverse. Ouch. According to NBC 11, "Hill said although he does not want to place blame he believes the accident would not have happened if the university had not put up a fence around the grove." Oh, come now. One, if Hill hadn't been 40 feet up high in a tree to begin with, succumbing to the temptations of gravity, he wouldn't have fallen. Two, he "thought he was connected to a traverse line but he was mistaken." So? It's your fault, you sexy, klutzy bear.

"UC Police Chief Victoria Harrison said that the school built the new fence as a security measure prior to the forcible removal of the protesters from the trees," which should be happening...sometime soon.

But here's to a speedy recovery, Hill. (Little tip: tell the doctors that codeine upsets your stomach, and you'll get the good stuff.)

image credit: NBC 11

Judge Says UC Berkeley Can Prune Tree-Sitters

Brock Keeling — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:09:43 GMT

After a 10-month protest atop an oak grove next to Memorial Stadium, a judge ruled on Monday that UC Berkeley can now start removing up-in-a-tree protesters, as well as their ground support, even if police can't identify the protesters by name.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Keller amended his ruling from a month ago. At that time, his decree gave authorities the power to strip the environmental activists off of the UC-owned land, but only if they could identify the protesters by name.

According to the Chronicle, only one protester could be identified "David Galloway, 36, because the other dozen sitters wear masks and would not give their real names." And now? The students and activists protesting a proposed sports training facility in the place of the grand old oak are all fair game.

But the university (wisely) will take its time to proceed with any forcible action. UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof also claims that "this ruling means it's all but impossible for reasonable people to see this protest as something benign."

Image: George Derk / Daily Cal