Oakland Tech Girls Basketball Team Virtual Murrell Writes— Memoirs of a Wins CIF Division 1 Girls’ Championship Black Panther:
The Oakland Tech Girls basketball champions roster is as follows: #1, Guard Jada Williams; #2 Forward Taliyah Logwood; #3 Guard Erin Sellers; #4 Sarai White; #5 Forward Jhai Johnson; #10 Guard Jala Williams; #11 Forward Terri’A Russell; #15 Tiana Grace; #21 Guard and Team Captain Mari Somvichian; #22 Zhanea Clemons; #24 Guard Jordan Taylor; #30 Guard Nia Hunter, #33 Guard Natane Chambers-Wright, #40 Center Marticia Pollard, #44 Forward Sophia Askew-Goncalves
By Carla Thomas Hundreds of fans packed into the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Friday, March 10 for the California Interstate Federation (CIF) Division 1 Girls Basketball Championship between Oakland Technical High School and Santiago High from Corona near Riverside. Oakland Tech’s Bulldogs clearly also wanted the championship more, although their game was more of a struggle for three quarters. They were down one point at the end of the first quarter, up by seven points at the half and at the end of the third quarter. But in the fourth, the team poured it on, outscoring Santiago 23-7. The final score was 75-52. “It’s history, we made history and we never lost,” said senior guard Erin Sellers who scored 14 points with one assist. “I think it’s
really because everyone said we couldn’t. They said we couldn’t play with a D-1 team, but not only did we play with them, we blew most of them out, and we got it done.” “It means everything,” said senior guard Mari Somvichian who scored seven points and had two assists. “I mean, to come in as a freshman and literally never lose a playoff game, is crazy. We’ve won three — well, I would say two and a half.” (In 2020, the team was scheduled to play in their state championship game, but the day before the game, the CIF shut down all athletics because of the pandemic.) “We’ve literally never lost, and to go out our senior year, our last game being a Division-1 State Championship, you really could
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Attorney General’s Office Denies Helping Holy Names University Sell Campus, Contrary to HNU’s Claims
California Attorney General Rob Bonta. By Ken Epstein Holy Names University in Oakland continues to be not transparent or truthful with the public and Oakland officials in its claims that HNU is acting with the approval and guidance of the office of California Attorney General Rob Bonta to sell the 60-acre campus in the Oakland hills for high-end residential development when the campus permanently closes, currently scheduled for the end of the current semester in May.
Jeanine Hawk, HNU’s vice president for finance. In a recent letter to City of Oakland officials, Jeanine Hawk, HNU’s vice president for finance and administration, claimed that the university has been working closely with Bonta’s office and that the university’s decision to sell the property to the highest bidder is based on and guided by discussions with the Attorney General’s Office. “HNU has been in constant communication with the California Attorney General’s office regarding the manner of ensuring that any transfer of its property satisfies the requirements of California law,” Hawk said. Further, she alleged that “discussions with the Attorney General’s office have resulted in an effort to market the property both through a real estate broker (Mike Taquino at CBRE) and through our continued communications with potential successor universities.”
Hawk also dismissed the City of Oakland’s offer to help maintain HNU as a center of higher education. “At this point it is unclear to HNU how the City of Oakland can assist with the process of achieving the objectives of obtaining the highest and best use of the HNU property for public good, particularly when HNU’s efforts to date have been in cooperation with the AG’s office,” she said.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Venus D. Johnson However, in a strongly worded denial, Venus D. Johnson, Chief Deputy Attorney General in AG Bonta’s wrote in a March 17 letter to Oakland officials, “While HNU has kept the Attorney General’s Office apprised as to its efforts to secure a successor educational institution, our office has not provided HNU with direction, approval or guidance with regard to these efforts.” “Any assertion to the contrary is inaccurate,” Johnson wrote. “Specifically, although HNU has reported to you that this office has told HNU that it must sell to the highest bidder and that we have provided HNU with direction related to its marketing efforts, the Attorney General’s Office has done neither of these things,” according to Johnson’s letter. Johnson emphasized that under the law the decision whether to sell the property is up to the HNU Board of Trustees. “A nonprofit corporation only needs approval from its board of directors to sell or transfer all or substantially all of its assets under terms the board deems is in the best interests of the corporation,” she said. Johnson added that there are no legal reasons why HNU cannot work with a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) or other educational institution to maintain the campus as a center for higher education. She wrote: “Let me be clear:
HNU absolutely may consider entering into an agreement with a successor educational institution and continue to operate with an educational purpose and mission. While my office cannot require HNU to do this, neither can we prevent them from doing so: The decision is HNU’s and HNU’s alone.” Several HNU students and an Oakland City Councilmember spoke this week about the potential for maintaining HNU as an institution of higher education on the “Education Today” program aired on radio station KPFA FM94.1.” “There are a lot of unanswered questions: how did we get to this place?” Asked Aniya Bankston, chair of the HNU Black Student Union (BSU) and a pre-nursing student. “There’s a very confusing time on campus, (and) anxiety is super high” among the students, she said. Kiara Evans, a member of HNU student government and the also a BSU member, said she and other student leaders met with the HNU Board of Trustees, which she was disappointed to see was all white. “They were very nonchalant,” said Evans. “Whatever we said, they just brushed us off. They didn’t really want to hear from us, and it’s pretty sad and disappointing that these people are in charge of our education. They’ve never even gotten to know us.”
He attended Lafayette Elementary School, Lowell Jr. High School and Skyline High School. Dancy also attended Laney College. He was a kind gentle soul who enjoyed talking to people. He was known for remembering everyone he met. He remembered birthdays and made sure to extend his good wishes. He inquired after the health of acquaintances and family members alike. He traveled all over downtown and West Oakland where he was a fixture at his favorite spot at Mc Donald’s.
He will be missed. Dancy leaves behind to mourn him brothers, Rick Dancy, Frank Dancy Jr., Austin Dancy, Randy Dancy, Darrell Dancy, and Rhamon Dancy; sister Lafrances Dancy; sisters-in-law Ana Dancy, Patti Dancy, Beverly Dancy and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Services will be held at his home church, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, located on the corner of 14th and Filbert Street, Oakland, California on April 10, 2023 at 11:00 a.m.
Landlords rally to end Oakland’s eviction moratorium, enacted to protect renters during the pandemic, Tuesday, March 21 at Oakland City Hall. Photo by Ken Epstein
Pro-Tenant Groups, Landlords Mobilize Over City Eviction Moratorium
By Ken Epstein
Landlords held a protest this week at an Oakland City Council meeting calling for an end to the city’s eviction moratorium protection, one of the strongest in the state, which was enacted to protect renters during the pandemic. At the landlord rally Tuesday afternoon in City Hall lobby before the council meeting, led by former mayoral candidate Seneca Scott, landlords and landlord organizations demanded council members end the city’s eviction moratorium. Former City Councilmember Loren Taylor spoke at the rally. “There’s a lot of data out there that speaks to the hundreds of millions of dollars that are outstanding in terms of unpaid rent, just in Oakland, not to mention the damage of property … destroying property, and we can’t remove them. It’s time to end this eviction moratorium,” said Derek Barnes of the East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA). Defending the moratorium or
Oakland District 4 Councilmember Janani Ramachandran City Councilmember Janani Ramashandran, who represents the area that includes the HNU campus, said she is working with other city leaders “to see this site used for higher education … not to follow the path of building luxury housing.” “I’m cautiously optimistic,” she said. “It comes down to the will of the Holy Names board (to negotiate)” and some of the proposals for educational uses for the property.
calling for its gradual phasing out were several pro-tenant organizations. Oakland Rising put out a call on social media for tenant supporters to attend the council meeting to speak in favor of renter protections. “It’s time to amplify our voices and urge our council members to retain the local moratorium ordinance that helps protect tenants against unjust evictions … Join us in standing together on behalf of those needing reliable shelter from potential displacement,” according to the Oakland Rising statement. Meanwhile, as these eviction protections wind down in cities across the Bay Area and the state, the Oakland City Council has prepared a proposal to gradually phase out its moratorium, while seeking to respond to the needs of both landlords and tenants. Almost 60% of Oakland residents are renters. The problem of how to handle the fallout in the wake of the moratorium is huge and not confined to
Oakland. Across the state an estimated 600,000 people owe $2.1 billion in back rent, according to researchers. In Los Angeles city and county, about 200,000 people owe more than half a billion dollars in unpaid rent, according to the website Cal Matters. In Alameda County, 32,900 households owe $125 million in unpaid rent, according to the National Equity Atlas. Thousands of Bay Area tenants are facing eviction, according to tenant advocates. At the same time, small landlords say they are threatened with foreclosure as they are unable to collect rents or recoup unpaid rent owed by tenants over the last two or three years. At this week’s Rules & Legislation Committee meeting of the Oakland City Council, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Councilmember Dan Kalb were expected to schedule legislation to phase out the moratorium. The legislation would be heard at the April 11 meeting of the Community and Economic Development Committee, which could send it to the full council for a first reading on April 18, and a second and final reading on May 2. This proposed ordinance would end the moratorium in phases “in order to help avoid a surge of evictions leading to an increase in homelessness, and allowing property owners to proceed with urgent evictions,” according to a press statement. If approved, the timeline would be: • May 1 – Aug. 31, 2023 – transition period - certain evictions allowed. • Sept. 1, 2023 - eviction moratorium ends. • July 1, 2024 - rent increase moratorium ends.
James Ira Dancy, known as a
West Oakland treasure and historian, passed away on March 18, 2023.
He was 65.
Dancy was born to Frank and
Dorothy Dancy in Oakland on April 10, 1957.
James Ira Dancy, 65