Oakland was a thriving town about 100 years ago. It went through many phases and now once again is a thriving town.
Oakland might be a poster child for our future.
Oakland had a most impressive long history as a thriving industrial center.
Oakland was first incorporated as a town in 1852. It had always been a popular place for thousands of years before by the Muwekna Ohlone who were part of the original Californians the Miwoks who spent winters near Temescal Creek and Lake Merritt for thousands of years. In 1772 the Spaniards occupied the land in the name of their king. Peralta, a Spanish soldier was deeded 44 thousand acres by the Spanish crown and his deed was confirmed when Mexico declared their independence. The land was divided up by his 4 sons. As much of California this region was covered by Oak trees and this is how it eventually got its name. During the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in the mid 19th century during the gold rush Mexico gave up the land to the US. Ever more and more squatters ignored the land ownership and a team of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo roving soldiers led by three men from nearby San Francisco established “Contra Costa.”
In 1853 John Coffee “Jack” Hays took up residence while he served as the sheriff in San Francisco. On March 25, 1854, Oakland was once again incorporated as the City of Oakland with Carpentier one of the San Francisco war lords as the Mayor. However he was quite corrupt and was quickly voted out of office and replaced by Charles Campbell as Mayor on March 5, 1855. Thanks to the fact that the several railroads ended up in Oakland it quickly became a major industrial hub. In 1868, the Central Pacific ended at the Port of Oakland. The Long Wharf also served as the terminus for the Transcontinental Railroad and the Southern Pacific, which was localed initially at 16th Street Station located at 16th and Wood.
In 1902 a deep channel was created for large ships and this is how Alameda become an Island separated from the mainland. Due to the earthquake and subsequent fires in San Francisco in 1906 the population doubled. This is when Mayor Frank Kanning Mott launched the “Beautiful City project” establishing the many parks, lakes and oak rimmed boulevards the city enjoys to this day. In 1914 he founded the Oakland Civic Auditorium which cost $1.4 Million dollars. It was used briefly as a hospital during the 1918 flue epidemic. Oakland was one of the most wonderful places to live and jobs were plentiful. Employers included General Motors, Chevrolet, Chrysler, and several other major auto companies.
The city also housed companies such as Kaiser, Bechtel, Phelan, Dreyer’s, Rocky Road Icecream, Western Union, Del Monte, and too many others to mention here. The high employment rate and associated growth of a strong middle class allowed Oakland to fashion itself into a world class city with the Golden State Theatre, Fox, Blumenfeld, Orpheum, Turner & Dahnken, the Grand Lake and the Paramount among others. By 1949 Oakland had a seating capacity of over 43 thousand theatre goers. Theatres came and went including the Hippodrome, Lurie, Premier and Roosevelt. Thanks to the start of commercial aviation Amelia Earhart , the Alameda Navel Air Station, and the 1930’s Howard Hughes’ movie the “Hell’s Angels” Oakland was one of the romanticized the epicenter of the West Coast.
Join us to celebrate Year 100 of the ACLU at Jack London Square this Saturday, March 30, 2019, at 3:30pm with a concert by Jonah Melvon featuring Adesha
March 29, 2019, Jack London Square, Oakland, CA, at 3:30 pm Jonah Melvon featuring Adesha will perform to celebrate the ACLU 100 Years celebration, which will go on the entire weekend. See entire line up here.
This weekend’s Bay Area Celebration is part of a national tour. https://www.aclu100.org/aclu-100-experience/ which was started at SXSW. With celebrations in Phoenix, and Los Angeles. The key focus this year is to encourage everyone to join the effort to remind US citizens and voters that “Voting is a Right, not Privilege.” The Gerry Mandering and Voter Suppression have affected the countries leadership in a way that the majority of the voters are not heard:
Voting rights have come under attack across the country. States have passed laws that have made it harder for people of color, the elderly, students, and people with disabilities to cast a ballot. Experience an interactive exhibit about the many barriers erected throughout American history to prevent people from voting.
Learn how you can help ensure that everyone has the ability to exercise their right to vote.
There are many other ways to give. You may designate your support for the ACLU of Northern California (not tax-deductible) or the ACLU Foundation of Northern California (tax-deductible):
Honor a friend’s birthday, wedding, or graduation with a special gift
Celebrate the life of a loved one with a memorial gift
Make a gift of stock
Leave a legacy. Make a planned gift to keep the ACLU strong after your lifetime.
If you are interested in making a gift to support LGB T rights by giving a gift to the FrontLine Fund, please contact us. For assistance, please contact the Development Department at giving@aclunc.org or (415) 621-2493.
Networks with Bay Area and California Non-Profits
We are honored to collaborate with these non profits that make positive changes happen:
Ella Baker Center for HumanRights
Heyday Books Initiate
Justice League of Women Voters
BOSS: helping the homeless, poor, and disabled people achieve health and self-sufficiency
ACILEP network for immigrant rights
Youth Speaks
Oakland Public Library
Secure Justice
Design Action
Planting Justice
ARC: The Anti Recidivism Coalition
TGI Justice Project for transgender freedom and survival
ACCESS Women’s Health Justice
It takes a village to raise a child and a community to shape and strengthen a city. The Oakland, CA is known to have a population of which 38% hold secondary degrees. This is largely due to the effective education successes, strong family support, and a community that believes that everyone is created equally and should be treated as such under the law. Naturally, we need to reinforce these values on a daily basis to continue our history of civil rights successes.
Our History
The ACLU-NC was alone in standing with Fred Korematsu and against the forced detention of Japanese-Americans during WWII, in a case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. We dared to oppose obscenity laws in the prim 1950s, defending Lawrence Ferlinghetti for selling Howl, the groundbreaking book of poetry, in his San Francisco City Lights bookstore. In the years after 9/11, the ACLU pushed back on a wave of bigotry and fear mongering to protect the civil rights of Muslims and people of Middle Eastern and South Asian decent. In recent years, as discrimination has shifted to target Latinos and others perceived as “foreign,” the ACLU has stamped out anti-immigrant laws around the country and challenged unlawful policing in immigrant communities in California. We may be best known for litigation, but through our history the ACLU-NC has been powered by the passion of our activists. The organization was forged through the courage of trade workers and labor organizers in the 1930s. We aided the growing civil rights movements of the 1960s, providing legal protection to campaigns by African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans, as well as anti-war protestors and LGBT activists. Over the decades, battles have been fought and won by ACLU activists in fifteen chapters across Northern California and student groups on California’s university campuses, from the activists who launched the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley in 1964 to the UC Davis students who endured pepper spray while exercising their free speech rights in 2011.
The ACLU of Northern California is one of the largest ACLU affiliates in the nation with nearly 170,000 members. We have a critical role to play. We must use our decades of experience in impact litigation, legislative advocacy, and fearless organizing to fight these un-American policies and protect our most cherished rights and freedoms. We are the resistance. Join us.
Did you know that prisoners get paid only $1.45 per day to put their life on the one fighting fires? Maybe they are in jail because they could not afford their bail, like wealthy citizens. Equity for all!
About us and how to get in touch for further conversations, interviews, etc.:
The ACLU of Northern California is an enduring guardian of justice, fairness, equality, and freedom, working to protect and advance civil liberties for all Californians. To learn more about the ACLU in Northern California please contact Carmen King at 415.621.2493 | cking@aclunc.org
To learn more about Jonah Melvon and the Rainwater Project, please visit his website at https://www.jonahmelvon.com/
See you at the show! To set up an appointment or for request for additional materials with the label, college, get photos, video links, or more please text Edie Okamoto, Media Relations, at 510-693-0166 or facebook or linked in.
You may also mail a check to our office at:
ACLU Foundation of Northern California Attn: Development Department 39 Drumm Street San Francisco, CA 94111
About the Rainwater Project
You can hear the music on Spotify or purchase them on Amazon.
Please join our list of sponsors who like you believe that education is the answer to a higher standard of living for all.
This email was sent to you for Jonah Melvon and the Rainwater Project
Google is one of top three companies in the world and the customer experience is unreliable.
Sundar Pichai CEO, Google Inc.
Today’s news clip from 360 Law:
“The U.S. Supreme Court appeared skeptical of whether Google Inc.’s so-called cy pres settlement of a privacy class action was fair, under which $2 million went to class counsel, $5 million went to third parties chosen by class counsel and the company, and zilch went to the 129 million Google users who made up the class.
Google’s earnings more than doubled over the last 5 years, their share Price went from $513.52 to $1,090 this morning.
I use google as a customer. I like their email program services for business and at home, not for mass mailings mind you. That services is very overpriced and doesn’t come with core features. I have a separate service provider for that. I also use google analytics, its pretty ok. It should be considering they make their money by tracking web traffic. It could be quite better from my point of view. Google’s big issue is that their instructions are horrible.
I like to be treated well, by knowledgeable, well-trained people who have a humane attitude. I am not alone. Customer Service or more precisely our Customer Experience is now so bad that it is quickly becoming the New Frontier in generating or negatively affecting ROI.
Google at its absolute worst.
I rent cloud space. I guess because one of my drives is linked to a free Gmail account the young man displayed an attitude problem. He assumed it was free even thought it was not. Maybe he didn’t have access to my account details? Or was too lazy to look? He claimed that when Google Drive lost much of my data, that was:
a) because I only use the consumer version. Never mind that I pay twice than what I pay for the business version that I also use.
b) I could not have lost data from before 2012 because they didn’t even offer google drive before then.
Customer service should not drive up your blood pressure, nor should it make you angry.
The young man’s attitude was horrible. He was rude, arrogant and clearly not very bright. The idea that you may back up other storage that included data from prior years entirely escaped his universe of thoughts.
For the business drive I got a young man on the phone – after looking forever to find a phone number – who was clearly able to read his script and while he was not the brightest person I have ever encountered, he was diligent, thorough and polite. He got the job done, eventually, after studying the manual and talking to his boss a few times. Due to his positive attitude I was able to remain patient and polite more easily. Attitude matters!
Google has its shares of problems. Every large international company has problems. Google apparently has hired horrible Ku Klux Klan loving men who created havoc for the company. More here.
The above mentioned lawsuit very much reflects the conversation I had with the Google Drive young customer experience man – he was rude, intellectually challenged, and despite the fact that I am a paying customer, his attitude was inhumane. The young man for the business account which costs less was diligent and polite. On the big business side people are down right courteous.
What I glean from this is that Google does not believe that we are all created equal.
I am the same person with three different level of services and I am treated entirely different in each scenario. This should not be! Does it really matter whether I call as an individual or as a business client? Please, Google hire better people and train them better. By having more than one type experience with a large company I can’t trust you in any area of your business.
Google has a hierarchy of value systems or let it fester and they don’t promote women through the glass ceiling. You should, you would do better.
Mr. Pichai, trust is build on a relationship that allows each person to count on the other person to do the right thing. The Supreme Court of this land ruled that “Corporations are People.” So Google, why can I only rely on you if your employees consider me worthy, and why does it change from scenario to scenario?
How about just one link with help to get to the right person? I want a better customer experience.
Working together to create a better world for our kids.
VigilintsHeart™ Launches “Shop, Save, Donate” helping parents save money while donating to schools and non-profits.
RioVida Networks is happy to announce the creation of the new VigilintsHeart program that will allow parents to shop online in over 1200 stores that offer special savings. The portal which can be reached via a link on the VigilintsHeart tab or direct by visiting the store directly.
The customer signs up and receives the sales prizing from the overall stores directly, but because the shopping is done through the portal the customer an additional small savings. And, more importantly this customer “VigilintsHeart” savings is matched and collected from the purchase of all the participants. This collective affiliate fee is then donated to various school programs through Micro Donations addressing teachers concerns.
The VigilintsHeart™ “Shop, Save, Donate” community outreach program will provide micro donations to individual school teachers. Often these dedicated professionals reach into their own pocket to purchase school supplies for our kids. The average teacher spends over $400 out of pocket each year and they really need pencils, paper, books, computer programs, chalk, rulers, glue, and many other items that they use during their instructions. Many parents are either unable to financially assist the teacher or they “assume” that these supplies are provided by the schools. Unfortunately, school administrators often are burdened with safety needs, building maintenance, and salaries.
There are many wonderful people at the PTA that diligently raise money to help with the bigger issues, school trip, music lessons, art classes and new recess areas. Often the “little things” – what the teacher actually needs to liven up their class room for the kids on a daily basis rescinds to the background.
Together we can help! Just move your online shopping to the portal, get your friends and family to do it, and Vigilints will donate their portion of the affiliate fee to teachers and non-profits.
The VigilintsHeart™ “Shop, Save, Donate” program is simple. Parents join the program FREE by signing up to shop online through the VigilintsHeart™ portal, they receive the discounts offered by the affiliates. The participating list of major stores includes nearly everyone’s favorite store, including Macy’s, Kohl’s, Sak’s Fifth Avenue, Best Buy, Old Navy, Disney’ and many other popular stores. Participants shop and save. The Loyalty Superstore receives 25% for licensing of the software platform, program managers, customer experience center, and maintenance team, and the rest of the affiliate commission will be donated to the VigilintsHeart™ program who will provide funds to the organizations.
This program does not alter the other VigilintsHeart™ Educational Programs which provide product and donations to teacher’s class rooms and programs. We invite classrooms and teachers to submit their donation requests.
“We are excited to help schools, children and non-profits through VigilintsHeart™,” said Martin Berns, CEO of Loyalty Superstore. Mr. Berns continued, “Loyalty Superstore is dedicated to serving the needs of its affiliates, customers, and the community, and are proud to be a part of the VigilintsHeart.”
The VigilintsHeart™ “Shop, Save, Donate” program is reaching out to other companies who wish to participate or add funds through sponsorship. To sponsor or learn more about the American classroom’ needs and the donations VigilintsHeart™ make by contacting Edie Okamoto to discuss how you may wish to participate as a co-sponsor.
About VigilintsHeart™
Vigilint Biosensors strives to provide fun and safe solutions to families with children: communications and learning for children and peace of mind for parents. The combination of the best location technologies (GPS, GNSS, A-GPS and sensors) will easily locate your child, anytime and anywhere. Vigilint Biosensors is dedicated to improving the quality of care that parents and senior caregivers provide through a complete 360º intelligent family care assistant, that connects family members together via smartwatches. Vigilint Biosensors provides the family/caregivers with a cloud infrastructure bringing devices and software services together, which strives to improve time management and reduce stress by improved non-intrusive care for kids, seniors, and other loved ones in need. This is achieved through the most modern application of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies to life data that provide alerts, if and when needed. “When those we care about are well, we can relax and focus on our day.” www.vigilint.store
For introductions and appointments with the appropriate contact persons or to receive further Viglint Biosensors press materials, whitepaper links, or investor packages please contact Edie Okamoto at +1 510 693 0166 or edie.okamoto@riovida.net
The Loyalty Superstore Officers and Board have 50 years of successfully experience in the Loyalty and Rewards space. We have extensive experience in launching and operating public companies. Loyalty Superstore, Inc. (“LSS” or “the company”) began developing proprietary loyalty and rewards solutions in early 2013. The company has been servicing a niche market for mid-large brands that wanted a private branded, Value Add customizable online loyalty rewards platform, both nationally and locally. To learn more about the www.loyaltysuperstore.com
We love to learn more about your ideas on how we can grow this program. You may reach Edie Okamoto with your request or to learn how we could set up a school specific program for you.
And don’t forget to join our growing community of professionals and parents atTwitter & Facebook.
Attention writers and parents: Please feel free to share your accomplishments, advice for other parents on the Vigilint Biosensor blog
Feel free to reach out for an interview and for consideration of recommended products or services for review. We will be glad to consider featuring highly recommended products or services in our advice columns, as long as, we deem them to match well with our desire to support only high quality products that represent our core values and that we may consider reselling through our app(s) or store(s).
