At their meeting last night, the Oakland City Council rejected a proposed resolution — which we discussed yesterday — that would have authorized Oakland police to use "whatever lawful tools" necessary to prevent another shutdown of the Port. Though it took little debate for councilmembers to postpone the resolution, asking for further study before they consider anything similar, dozens of Occupy supporters and protesters used the opportunity to create a bit of mayhem in the Council chambers. more ›

We mentioned yesterday that a new showdown was brewing between the Oakland police and the Occupy Oakland camp as Mayor Jean Quan seems to be once again caving to pressure from the downtown business community and others to clean up the mess. Yesterday afternoon, a trio of Oakland city council members tried to stage a press conference at the bandstand over at Lake Merritt, backed by a group of local clergy and business owners, only to get overtaken by a louder group of Occupy campers and supporters. more ›

It's official: City Councilwoman Jean Quan has won the Oakland mayor's race, beating out Don Perata in the ranked-choice voting tally by a margin of 51% to 49% (a little more than 2,000 votes). Quan initially was nine points behind Perata in first-choice votes, but she popped up on ballots across the city as a second or third choice for a whole lot of people. Her name recognition as a member of the City Council since 2003 certainly helped, as did her pact with opponent and fellow Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan to tell supporters to list each other as second or third choices. more ›

Celebrity talk show host Montel Williams, whose TV show ceased production a couple years ago but who can still be seen on CBS and BET in syndication, met last week with Oakland City Attorney John Russo as well as Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Rebecca Kaplan to discuss exactly what is and isn't allowed in the fast-growing marijuana trade centered in Oaksterdam. According to Matier & Ross, Montel is looking to break into the business and quickly become the celebrity face of the Bay Area medical marijuana business, talking with Kaplan about "growing specific kinds of pot for specific illnesses." more ›

The Oakland City Council last night voted to approve the licensing of four large-scale grow operations in industrial areas of the city to supply marijuana to the growing dispensary concerns in Oaksterdam. This makes Oakland the first city in the nation to license wholesale pot cultivation... more ›

Despite the teenage-titter-worthy quality of the Matier and Ross headline ("Oakland cops probing two councilwomen at protest"), this isn't actually a story about sexual assault. The OPD is going after council members Jean Quan and Rebecca Kaplan for what they see as interfering with police work the night of the Johannes Mehserle verdict protest last week. Quan and Kaplan were part of a human shield keeping protesters from reaching police, but also preventing the riot cops from breaking through and advancing on some protesters. more ›

The son of Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, Ignacio De La Fuente Jr., 34, got smacked upside the head with a 14-year prison sentence for raping four women. "All but one of whom were prostitutes," according to the Chronicle. (So, we guess three of them deserved it? It's more violating and traumatic for just one of them? We shouldn't be that upset?) more ›

Today, the Oakland City Council voted to ban smoking in "ATM lines, parks and other public places," which is smurfy, health-conscious, makes the bitch behind you at the ATM line stops her self-righteous fake coughing, will result in animated birds singing on your shoulders, etcetera. more ›

More vigilantes? A shooting yesterday afternoon in the Loin may have been an attempt to clean up the neighborhood. At around noon yesterday, authorities found a man with non-life threatening wounds after hearing reports of one shot being fired. The shooter was arrested a few hours later, after what the report called an "intense" building search. Witnesses say the shooter was acting as an armed vigilante of some sort, but the cops won't comment about that. The shooter may also have shot someone on Sunday; the cops are investigating that too. more ›

The on-again-off-again proposal by the Wayans Brothers to build some sort of Wayans World at the site of the Oakland Army Base is back on as an Oakland City Council committee voted to allow negotiations to begin anew. A proposal was introduced awhile ago but fell through when the Wayans brothers were unable to come up with anything in the way of a plan. more ›

Students at Cal protest the store Bear Basics for selling shirts they found offensive. The shirts in question said "Rutgers Nappy-Headed Ho Basketball Team." A manager was asked to stop selling the shirt and refused, so the students organized a protest for the next day. The manager's boss intervened and pulled the shirt before the store opened the next day, but when the students came by a few days later, they found two other shirts offensive so they planned a protest this Wednesday. Eight shirts were ultimately taken off the shelves. more ›

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We somehow missed this, or more like didn't care, but Charles Barkley has now become Public Enemy #1 here in the Bay Area. This is because during the NBA Playoffs, Barkley has said a number of bad, bad things about the area. Among other things, he's said this about the Bay Area: "It's the dumping ground of people who can't afford to live in L.A." And this: "You know, we should take the show on the road. For the next game, we should go to hell - I mean, go to Golden State." And then there's this: "I would rather stay on Alcatraz than San Francisco or Oakland.'' He also talked trash about Sausalito . Sausalito! more ›

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It's a bad sign when the Oakland City Council (and its participating public -- see notes in the comments below) takes the "worst behaved political activity" award on a day where not only were Chris Daly and Gavin Newsom scheduled to be in the same room but there was a Taiwanese political protest in town. (We didn't think anyone could outfight a Taiwanese politician!) more ›

It looks like the Bay Area is going to be getting a new film studio. In Oakland. Take that San Francisco. The people behind the new studio? The Wayans brothers-- Keenan Ivory, Damon, Shawn, Marlon, and Tito-- the auteurs behind "In Living Color," Scary Movie and White Chicks. On Tuesday, an Oakland City Council committee unanimously approved a preliminary plan to move their production facilities to the old Oakland Army Base. If the City Council approves the plan, the brothers have a year to put together an agreement. So far, the plan calls for retail stores, a 30-acre film production studio with offices and a 10-acre back lot for production. Oh, and a 30-acre theme park with a hotel. Yes, we said an amusement park. According to the plans, the brothers want to build an amusement park adjacent to the studio. The park will be like "Universal Studios in Los Angeles but with a hip, urban atmosphere reflected in the Wayans brothers' comedies." And yes, the mind boggles. The Homey the Clown Funland Park? Fly Girls of the Caribbean? The White Chicks Nightclub Ride featuring an animatronic Lindsey Lohan getting into a cat fight with animatronic Simpson sisters while an animatronic Paris Hilton does blow in the bathroom? Either way, we can hardly wait. more ›

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: The Best Of ish! We nearly threw our back out getting it out of the box! So here we are, flip flip flip, feeling smug that we already know a bunch of the best of picks ("Best Nepalese food: Pssssh, of course it's going to be Little Nepal! We are too old school for this town!"), and -- holy crap! They gave us best local blog! Yipes, nowhere left for us to go but down. Full gloating will commence in separate posts -- but we would also be remiss in our solipsism if we neglected to mention the mention of this very column, so thank you very much, SF Weekly! (You know we only kid because we love.) In other news, readers vote Chris Daly worst local politician, and Golden Gate Bridge best local landmark. And hey, we get to send SFists Jackson and Eve to the big awards ceremony now too, right? Fun! Okay, it's not really all about us -- so we're moving on, to the East Bay Express: A kerrayyyy-zee letter from a person who wrote a book about cooking for a dog with food allergies. Why isn't the Oakland City Council race interesting? Cover article: a totally, totally fascinating article from a juror on the first Gwen Araujo trial about why they hung. Hilarious I Like Eating comic about the challenge that is Todai. And a dry-as-a-gimlet (are gimlets dry?) review of the Coldplay show. SFist Jackson's mainstream media debut and the pick of the week after the jump! more ›

With all the positive hubbub about San Francisco's Animal Care and Control officers and its Dog Court (oh, you bet your sweet bippy we're discussing this in We Read the Weeklies tomorrow), it's doubly sad to hear about the allegations of animal cruelty that have been directed across the bay at Oakland's animal shelter. ReShawn McClarty, the acting director of the shelter, has been just placed on administrative leave as allegations concerning the shelter's mistreatments continue to grow. Lori Barnabe, a former Oakland animal control officer who quit in June, recently sent a letter to the city and the Oakland police force, claiming that the shelter routinely euthanizes animals that are scheduled to be picked up by rescue groups or distraught owners, and that animals are routinely euthanized without being given the standard course of sedatives first. Barnabe also claimed to have seen a live dog that had accidentally been closed in a barrel of animal corpses in a freezer, shelter workers altering records after euthanization to make animals appear more vicious, staff leaving kittens in an unattended drop box overnight (causing a kitten to die), and in general, levels of neglect bordering on abuse (like locking a dog in a kennel without exercise for a year). The shelter concedes that a dog was accidentally euthanized last month, but claims that in general the shelter is run quite well overall. The Oakland City Council is holding a town meeting tomorrow night at 7 p.m. in City Hall to discuss these allegations and the appointment of a new shelter director with the public. more ›

Your intrepid junkie takes the lower deck of the Emperor Norton to report on some news from the Oakland City Council: city councilman Danny Wan, who represents Oakland's District 3 (Grand Lake and Chinatown), has announced his resignation from the council, stating that he couldn't afford to stay on as a city councilmember and also support his aging parents. Wan was one of three Asian-Americans council members, and the only member who was openly gay (out of 8). Wan emigrated from Taiwan at an early age (we can't find any biographical information about him online), attended Cal and UCLA Law School, and was first appointed to the City Council in 2000. He then was elected in 2002 to a four-year position. His legislative highlights include sponsoring a bond to restore Lake Merritt, passing laws requiring city publications to be printed in languages other than English, and his efforts to have Oakland recognize same-sex marriage licenses from SF (which was stymied only when the Supreme Court found them unconstitutional). We're sad to see him go (and feel slightly shamed by his Asian street cred on the elder respect thing). more ›

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