Northbay Uprising - Information for the liberated zones of the San Pablo Bay

2011-11-02 "Oakland Council plan: 'Collaborate' with Occupy" by Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-11-02/bay-area/30353356_1_mary-hayashi-protesters-oakland-council]
The Oakland City Council will take up a resolution Thursday supporting the Occupy encampment and calling on city administrators to "collaborate with protesters" for the "safe and lawful" use of Frank Ogawa Plaza as a 24-hour demonstration site.
The resolution by Councilwoman Nancy Nadel also calls on the city to address issues relating to noise, health, fire safety and even violence through "verbal communication" if possible - and not to use force to remove the encampment "unless absolutely necessary."
In effect, the resolution would formalize what Mayor Jean Quan has been trying to do since she allowed campers back in the park after the Oct. 25 police raid and subsequent street protests.
A quick survey of council members showed substantial support within the council for allowing the camp to stay, at least for now.
"As long as it's safe," said Councilwoman Jane Brunner.
 "Given the history of the past week, there is no way to get rid of it without a major police action," said Councilwoman Pat Kernighan.
By the way, both Nadel and Brunner said they planned to join today's Occupy Oakland general strike. Quan will start her day at the emergency command center.
The only two members who told us the tents should go were Council President Larry Reid and Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente.
 "We should never have allowed them back in the first place," De La Fuente said. "How much are we now going to spend on this, while our other parks and services are being cut?"
"We've given up control of the city" to the protesters, Reid said. "We don't call the shots anymore - they do."
Hayashi play: Looks like the attorney for Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, has been burning up the phones since her arrest last week for allegedly shoplifting at San Francisco's Neiman Marcus store.
 We're told that attorney Douglas Rappaport called Neiman's corporate headquarters in Texas to inquire just how serious the high-end retailer was about pursuing the grand theft charges against his client for allegedly stealing leather pants, a black skirt and white blouse that totaled $2,450.
 The response: The company will do whatever the San Francisco district attorney's office thinks is appropriate.
To which D.A.'s spokesman Omid Talai told us: "This is rightfully charged as a felony."
Rappaport declined to comment.
 As for just what kind of case prosecutors might have?
A source tells us that store employees thought Hayashi was acting suspiciously Oct. 24 before she entered a dressing room to try on some clothes.
 Those suspicions were reinforced when she came out with a Neiman bag in her hand, but not all the merchandise she had carried in, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation.
 A surveillance camera later filmed Hayashi leaving the store with the bag, at which point security guards detained her.
Sam Singer, a spokesman for Hayashi, said the assemblywoman had intended to pay for the merchandise on a different floor. She went to the cafe first, got distracted and accidentally walked out without paying, Singer said.
 Adding to her distraction: numerous cell phone calls and text messages Hayashi made while shopping, Singer said.
"Like all of us, she was trying to do too many things at the same time," he said.
Blame game: It was Mayor Jean Quan's own legal adviser, Dan Siegel,  who first accused San Francisco sheriff's deputies of misconduct at last week's Occupy Oakland demonstration - which may have led to one deputy being accused on the Internet of injuring Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen.
 Siegel admits he didn't witness what happened to Olsen. Still, a day after Olsen was hurt during a police tear-gassing the night of Oct. 25, Siegel angrily told a crowd outside Oakland City Hall that "I witnessed police commit criminal acts last night."
 Siegel then recounted seeing three San Francisco deputies shoot projectiles at another young man on a bicycle as he tried to recover a tear gas canister and other projectiles.
"It just seemed absurd," Siegel told us, "unless they thought this guy was a suicide bomber."
When pressed, however, Siegel did not rule out the possibility that it was Alameda County sheriff's deputies who fired at the man on the bicycle. Officers in both contingents were wearing similarly dark uniforms.
San Francisco sheriff's spokeswoman Eileen Hirst said none of her department's 37 deputies at the demonstration carried tear gas, nor did any fire any weapons.
As for how the online world centered on one San Francisco deputy in the Olsen case?
All it took was one camera click and a tweet, asking, "Is this the San Francisco sheriff that shot Scott Olsen?"