Both Councilmembers Pat Kernighan and Ignacio De La Fuente are ready to sponsor legislation to do away with the 8 p.m. meter enforcement, rolling it back to the previous 6 p.m. cutoff (hooray, I say!).

“We have to admit when we made a mistake,” De La Fuente told me earlier today.

“After hearing from a great many outraged constituents, I have concluded that the City Council tried to impose too much at once regarding parking fees and fines… Consequently,  I favor rescinding the 8 pm enforcement and going back to 6 pm. ,” wrote Kernighan in an email I just received.

Nothing can happen until the council gets back from break in September. And a word of warning: that revenue the city would have gotten has to come from somewhere. My advice: enjoy the moment of victory, it could be short-lived.

Besides the wealth of alternate ideas that folks had for the space were just so darn great (park, plaza, large sculpture space, pee-wee golf), the council couldn’t help but take notice, apparently.

So last night the council voted to give the community two weeks to develop a plan to transform the dirt lot into a spot to display large public art, a la Burning Man-sized creations. Like IT by Michael Christian??? How cool would that be???

Could great art like this be headed downtown? Stay tuned.

It’s one of many improvements to the lake that Oakland voters were promised when in 2002 they approved Measure DD, the $198 million Trust for Clean Water and Safe Parks bond. 

The sidewalk work will be done in stages from E. 18th to El Embarcadero. By Wednesday, May 6, the entire length should fenced off and no parking will be allowed on the west side of the street.

The good news? Joggers and walkers will be able to use the new shoreline path, although access points will be limited the Pergola and the E. 18th Pier and a couple of other spots. Also, the city is suspending street cleaning on the east side of the street during the construction.

For more information, contact Lyle Oehler, the city’s capital improvement project coordinator at 238-3389.

Check out Waterfront Action or the city of Oakland website for project descriptions and updates

In one of the largest Ecstasy seizures ever in California, 45 kilograms of the drug with a minimum street value of almost $2 million were found at a West Oakland house Friday during a series of law enforcement raids from Willits to the East Bay, authorities said Tuesday.

Besides the powder form of the drug found in Oakland, a huge manufacturing lab was dismantled in Willits in Mendocino County, and at least nine people, including the ringleader suspect from El Cerrito, his brother and two Emeryville residents, were arrested.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown said the suspects were part of a “dangerous drug ring” that operated Ecstasy labs around Northern California. Brown said the ring “posed a threat topeople and the environment.”

Besides the Ecstasy powder, authorities found 28 pounds of hallucinogenic mushrooms, 30 pounds of marijuana and $531,000 in cash at the West Oakland house in the 1000 block of 39th Street. At a warehouse on Yerba Buena Avenue in Emeryville, authorities found 50 marijuana plants and what is suspected to be LSD in powder and liquid form.

State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement Special Agent in Charge John George said Tuesday the powder seized could be used to make at least 88,000 Ecstasy pills that could sell for $15 to $40 each. He said the mushrooms had a street value of at least $156,000 and the marijuana at least $90,000.

Arrested at the Oakland house were Leon Haskell, 34, and Tappie Dufresne, 37, of Emeryville.

The series of raids culminated an investigation that began in November. The state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement initially teamed with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office after an anonymous tip alerted agents to a possible lab operating in Mendocino County.

Agents monitored the site and identified the cook as Jonathan Passel, 46, of El Cerrito, whom George said is the ringleader suspect. He was followed to several locations, including the Oakland residence, residences in Willits, Redwood Valley and El Cerrito, and warehouses in San Rafael and Emeryville, agents said.

Based on surveillance and other evidence, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement agents, the West Contra Costa County Narcotics Enforcement Team, the Mendocino County Major Crimes Task Force and seven other Northern California police agencies served nine warrants Friday in four counties.

Passel was arrested at what police say is the Mendocino County lab site.

Agents there seized a .45-caliber pistol, thousands of dollars worth of chemicals, commercial-grade laboratory glassware, and more than 100 gallons of toxic, poisonous and flammable liquids and solids. Hazardous chemicals and laboratory equipment filled 40 large barrels.

Paul Passel, 64, Jonathan Passel’s brother, was arrested at a house in the 1800 block of Key Boulevard in El Cerrito but was cited at the scene and released due to medical issues. Agents seized 11/2 pounds of marijuana and lab glassware at the residence.

None of the suspects would talk to authorities. They were booked at Mendocino County Jail on suspicion of a variety of charges, including manufacturing and possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy, authorities said.

- By Harry Harris, Oakland Tribune, Jan. 29, 2009

He would only say Tuesday that Geoffrey’s on 14th Street is closing and he plans to lease the space to a church and non profit. For what purpose, he didn’t say.

Pete has been going back and forth with the Oakland police department over the unruly and sometimes violent crowds leaving his club after the monthly First Saturdays events, which tend to draw a younger scene. There have been fights and gunfire, and 30 cops plus Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies were called out early Sunday morning to stop  fights and disperse a crowd of about 500 people in the intersection of 14th and Franklin streets in front of Geoffrey’s. At least that’s what the police log said.

Pete said “OPD didn’t do anything,” that his security team dealt with the incidents before the police arrived, and that he runs a safe club. That’s true. Nearly all the violence that led to Sweet Jimmie’s, @17th and Mingles closing down had happened outside, usually after large crowds converged at closing time.

Why is it that folks can get along inside, where the liquor is flowing and everybody is dancing, but forget about being a law-abiding citizen once they hit the streets?

Dorothy King from Everett and Jones Barbeque (her spelling) said that some of the younger people hitting the clubs nowadays don’t care and don’t respect the way things used to be.

If that’s true, then why is it that Kimball’s Carnival, Maxwell’s, Air Lounge and several other downtown caberets, including King’s own Q lounge, which showcases jazz and blues on weekends, manage to run their clubs and send their patrons out in a happy, not fighting, mood?

Just asking.

Well, get ready, cuz pimps and the prostitution trade aren’t the only topics filmmakers are interested in.

A documentary film crew funded by the Discovery Channel has been prowling around West Oakland the past month for a three-hour series on gangs, interviewing folks and filming funerals.

They are focusing on the impacts from the deadly feud between the Acorn and Ghost town gangs that culminated in a big-time raid in June and the arrest of more than 50 gang members, including the alleged ringleader of Acorn, Marc Anthony Candler.

The film makers plan to come back to Oakland for more footage next year. So much for Oakland’s image.

You can check out my earlier post or story to get the smoky details, but in a nutshell, an untended candle sparked a fire that ended up with inspectors crawling around NIMBY’s longtime arts space on 28th Street in West Oakland.

(Michael) Snook, owner and founder, found a new, bigger space that complied with all fire codes, etc… in East Oakland. He had to raise $36,000 for the move in costs, but that’s done and starting today, all the great Burning Man sculpture, torches, and other stuff that’s been  packed up in shipping containers is finally heading to their new home.

The new place is going to have a far-out sculpture garden with pieces like Michael Christian’s IT.

NIMBY, for those who don’t know, is a warehouse/studio space that catered to Burning Man artists, painters, and tinkerers who really like fire. Founder Snook was forced to look for a different spot after someone left a candle untended and it sparked a smoky blaze. The blaze also sparked a series of inspections, which uncovered a few violations, such as no sprinklers, etc.

Snook, founder of NIMBY, with the head of IT

But opportunity arose from the ashes of the melted shipping container. Snook found a much bigger, better warehouse in East Oakland, in the Coliseum area, where he’ll be able to permanently install some of the humongous Burning Man sculptures that were created at NIMBY, such as Colossus and IT.

For an update on the move, check out NIMBY’s space.

Or check out my story here.