Television reports indicate that council members are not at all happy with Jerry's action.

Specifically, council member Larry Reid has promised all out war on Jerry Brown and Jane Brunner referred to TuBobb as "a popular city manager." Where does she soak her head?

Right on. I was so sick of waiting to see which ego would win out. Now I'm worried about which wuss Jerry will put in Boob's, oops Bobb's place

You are crazy. You must be white and you are just mad that a black man is making more money than you. It's cool. I know Robert is better off now than before and I'd thought I'd let you know. Don't bother responding because I have blocked you. I just wanted to say you are really ignorant.

Jeannette may be crazy and she may be white, but she is not the one who's ignorant here. Apparently Kim hasn't been reading OaklandNews for long or she would know that we specialize in equal opportunity bashing and that we have previuosly taken issue with the salaries paid to many white and other colors of city employees, include Jacques Barzhagi, John Russo, Bill Claggett, etc., etc. Also, contrary to the beliefs of some people, white people are entitled to opinions just like everybody else.

Jane Powell
Deputy Editor

Dang, Jane! I thought I had fooled everyone into thinking for sure I was not a Caucasian. But now that _that's_ out of the bag...
I am not crazy, at least not every day. However, I can easily be made nutso by what people in Oakland say and do, whether it's garden variety name calling and race baiting from hatemongers like Kim Jones, or the action taken by the mayor and city council.
Did I approve of Robert Bobb's salary? No. Did anyone in Oakland except for the Bobb family and the Musgrove family? No. Why the Musgroves you ask?
Heh heh -- because Robert Bobb had one of the two employee contracts in Oakland. The other one he gave to his pal from Richmond, George Musgrove. Isn't cronyism grand?

I do note that you can turn several different colors when riled up about Oakland political stupidity- that should count for something!

Deputy Ed.

I'm not sure how I feel about Robert's departture. I suppose it was something that should have happened, if only because Robert was constricted by Jerry.

Jerry does not like to be challenged, especially when the person is right. I know this first hand.

What I do give Robert credit for is really trying to make Oakland think of itself as a big city. That's a real hard task.

I don't think the future of the city is a bright one. The reason rests in the very nature of the way City Hall works ...or does not work.

There's a mentality that pays too much attention to what happens in City Hall and NO attention on the outside world and Oakland's place in it., or how it can have an impact on the immediate world that is the neighborhoods of Oakland. This is why the Economic Development program is so ineffective.

In an Internet-dominated society, people care less and less about what happens in Oakland City Hall. Plus, morale was already terrible...now its just plain in the crapper, as I understand.

The City is ran by some of the very people that should not be in charge.

Jerry and his people are not well-versed in what it takes to tie all of the complex relationships that make the city work, together. Moreover, Jerry does not get what a city is all about. On top of that, the decisions he makes are seat-of-the-pants, and without any empircal support or evidence.

That's too bad, really.

He's got a wonderful opportunity to make Oakland a better place. He's blowing it with ego-driven management.

I love this site - Zennie, well said. And, Jeannette, what was that you said about a petition drive to rid Oakland of the civil service protections - was that you? - something like 'what the unions do to Oakland is bad enough, maybe we can get a petition drive to get rid of the civil service'?? If I missed the gist of it, I apologize in advance.

Hey Randy! Good to hear from you again, it has been too long.

I have no idea when or where I might have said the above re unions and civil service but the sentiments are mine for sure. The civil service gives disgruntled staff two bites at the apple, which is wrong. The second and final bite should come from the courts.

Our local unions are horrible -- but they have
been given that power by the Ignacio de la Fuentes and Jane Bunners on the city council. The unions protect staff who lie, cheat and steal, they think that giving a person several days off after the shock of being dressed down by a boss is fair -- it goes on and on. To fire someone on the spot in the city of Oakland is almost impossible. Don't get me going.

The problems with the unions is legendary and getting rid of problem workers can be pretty much impossible. I have a friend within OPD who has the honor of being the _only_ person able to fire a rotten civilian employee within OPD ranks and make it stick. He basically had to do undercover work documenting her fabrications of time cards, etc. for over a year. The fired worker then tried to sue the city to get herself reinstated and sued the city. Because my friend had been so meticulous with his documentation, keeping records of the her time cards as well as others, the fired worker was caught in too many lies. The arbitration judge basically had to ask, "did you lie in the past or lying now? Either way, you're lying.' The judge upheld the termination.

It shouldn't take over a year to get rid of lying and stealing workers. There should be certain standards of behavior and ethics, particularly of workers in the public sector. Those who don't measure up, should be reassigned or fired plain and simple. This should be true no matter the pay grade or whether they belong to a union. Why did the old economic development head (can't remember his name) get fired immediately for soliciting a prostitute but Jerry's friend and aid Barzaghi keep his job after sexually harrassing female workers?

Well said, CB.
I can't remember the deputy at CEDA either -- was it Michael someone? Who said he just wanted to be hugged? But his wife kept her job with the city? -- Another one of those rule benders where we got two people for the price of one.

Then there's the current battle over the firing of
TC, the former Web person for the city. TC claims that her firing is because she's black and a lesbian and insists that it has nothing, nothing at all, to do with the episode in which she essentially turned off KTOP, was the only person in the city with the password to the City's computer system, went home, refused to answer the door or respond in any way until the police showed up. Yep,
the City is having to fight reinstating her.

What? Only one person had the password to the city's computer system???

Holy mother of God! That is insanity!

And these people dare to draw salaries?

Time to get the torches and hot tar ready. Time to get the feathers.

Time to kick some ass.

Regarding TC. Yes, she was the only one with the password.

I remember vividly a couple of meeting with TC in which she agreed she would update some critically needed webpages. She also said she would help various groups (within the city) put of webpages for their various departments. She insisted it was her jurisdiction as the City of Oakland's webmaster. Well, she didn't update the pages and she didn't design new ones either. Every one of the groups/departments ended up hiring outside people to do their webpages (public works and the clean oakland site). The city had to pay extra money to get these webpages designed and hosted.

One comment was memorable. "You can't get TC to do anything...Granite moves faster than TC."

And what happened to the IT department after TC left? Things improved dramaticly. I can't say the City of Oakland's webpages are any better but departments are able to post easier. (Specifically Zoning/Planning and City Council)

And KIJE, I am ready with the tar and feathers. There are so many incompentent people in the City.