I haven’t finished watching the City Council meeting from Tuesday yet, so I have yet to get to the Wednesday budget meeting as well. Too many City meetings, not enough time in the day to catch up with it all. So instead I’m going light and fluffy (I think). The Raiders are submitting a design review application to build a new training facility near their existing headquarters in Alameda. When I told the husband he said “that’s good!” I said, “but they already have a facility in Alameda.” To which he replied, “well, if they are putting money into an Alameda facility that means they won’t necessarily move to LA.” Point: husband who follows football stuff.
All in all it’s pretty “meh” looking but apparently will be screened in with fences and landscaping and stuff because “privacy.”
Can I just say that these are the toughest looking humans in renderings that I have seen recently, it’s like they did a search for “tough people” to place in the renderings for human scale:
Nary a female figure to be found.
The buildings will be of the pre fabricated variety so, yeah…
Blogging Bayport Alameda 
Six bay prefab garage is not a sign that the Raiders will stay in the Bay Area.
Comment by Basel — May 8, 2015 @ 9:19 am
This is the story you should have mentioned today: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/man-beaten-california-baton-wins-450k-settlement-article-1.2213883
The NY Daily News has the cop cam raw feed video.
But I know how Lauren likes to steer clear of controversial subjects….Problem with “The Alamedan” is, Michele censors everything before it is posted.
Police mistreatment of the disabled (not just people of color) is a problem we should have a conversation about. It exists even right here in Alameda.
Comment by vigi — May 8, 2015 @ 9:39 am
in vigi’s world, Lauren won’t print anything controversial, and Michele censors everything. another words she disagree’s with them.
Comment by John P. — May 8, 2015 @ 10:39 am
vigi years ago there was a case of an officer responding to a call of a transient in the Beltline. The officer found a guy passed out with a lot of empty beer containers, like six 16 oz. A bicycle near by. When he rousted the guy the guy supposedly wielded a knife and he was shot to death. I don’t think there were witnesses, certainly no video. Policeman was found to be acting within protocol, but especially in light of all the videos these days, it’s conceivable to me that excessive force was used. If it was excessive could it have even been manslaughter? who knows? That cop was voted officer of the year that year. My account is from memory of the Journal article twenty plus years ago, but I’m 90% certain my facts are straight.
In this incident it is not clear what the police did wrong, other than swinging the club with too much force which is not that hard to do when it comes to cracking a wrist. Last night I watched a video of a guy down on hands and knees in submission where the cop in another city hauled off and punted his head like a field goal. As for this fellow being disabled, the guy is riding a bike ! The Alamedan says the video is on policeman’s private video camera which is weird, but all the better. I did note that the article said our city has had a few other suits and settled on at least one. I’m concerned about each and every case, but this seems relatively benign. Guy didn’t have any stolen stuff, but he didn’t stop. Home boys in Sandtown said in TV interview, if you run from Baltimore cops you better plan on gettin’ away. Freddie Gray ran.
The mentally ill thing is a concern. In New Mexico, they shoot homeless, don’t they? http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/02/son-deceased
Comment by MI — May 8, 2015 @ 11:06 am
vigi, you recently posted that other remarks I made here were perhaps overly respectful in an effort to cover my ass on some critical remarks in the same post. I’m calling it exactly as I see it and if I don’t think I can risk it I’ll just not say anything. I’m grateful that patrol officers I’ve encountered here have been incredibly decent when stopping me for moving violations. I am white and very cooperative. Motor cycle cops would be an exception, but they are simply robotic, not in any way disrespectful. I’ve talked to police responding to calls in my neighborhood, including a party where texting drew 200 teenagers. They have been totally cool. This town is tame enough that police do not face daily risk of attack like the shooting deaths of four police in Oakland a few years back, but thank god for that. It only takes one incident. Not likely that guy on bike had a gun, but from the video you can see the exact moment of confusion where anything is possible and adrenaline gets pretty high.
Comment by MI — May 8, 2015 @ 11:22 am
MI, are you qualified to define someone else’s disability? I can ride a bike, too, but I need a walker to walk more than 30 feet and I have no use of my left thumb.
I suggest you watch the entire 15 minute video: http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Alameda-to-pay-450K-to-settle-lawsuit-alleging-6247703.php
The detained man is even wearing a tie. The cop managed to break BOTH arms [well, a part of each one].
The disparaging comments made by the arresting officer, by themselves, might be enough for a civil rights suit. The police are supposed to treat you with respect and dignity, and they certainly have no excuse not to, once you are in handcuffs. Both officers seemed not to realize the trauma inflicted to the victim’s wrist and arm, as they manhandled his cuffed wrists. They kept telling him to quiet down, so he couldn’t tell them about any injuries. He seemed to get WORSE treatment because they knew who he was.
This is Alameda, not Baltimore. What is most disturbing is, even though this cop knew he was recording the whole thing (it was his personal cam, not the APD’s property) this did not deter his bad behavior! And Sgt Wyeth is still on the duty roster, 3 years later. No discipline: he acted “legally and lawfully” per our City staff.
Comment by vigi — May 8, 2015 @ 11:38 am
I watched the two minute video in the NY rag. Legitimate question of whether it was appropriate to swing the club several times to apprehend a suspected shoplifter. On the other hand, anyone who takes off running (or riding) when a cop is trying to stop them is going to raise the cop’s level of concern (if not their ire as well.) the video left me less concerned over the officer’s actions than I was when all I had was the settlement and written articles.
PS- APD is putting together a proposal to purchase body cams for their officers.
Comment by BMac — May 8, 2015 @ 11:59 am
6. did the bike have a disabled placard? And by the way vigi your scurry to the podium at the city council meeting was so smooth you forgot to use your cane.
I’ll have to watch again. Three swipes with the club? Did you hear how many times he warned the guy to stop or he would hurt him? I didn’t catch disparaging comment.
In my old neighborhood in North Oakland a stolen car being chased by a cop out of south Berkeley hit a curb and went air born right into my neighbors car in the driveway which rammed our car into our stairs. I could here a policemen screaming “Get down! Get the fuck down on the ground! Now”. Afterward the Berkeley policeman asked by standers about how he sounded. He explained that the two guys in front seat had been saved by the automatic seat belt and he was shouting at the third person in the back seat trying to flee. He had his gun trained on him when he was yelling. He was genuinely freaked out, and over dosing on adrenaline. I’m outraged and disgusted by the epidemic of police violence and cover up which has obviously gone on for years, but it’s hard to second guess what it’s like to do a job which only exists because of “law breakers” and where you literally go zero to sixty in five seconds and are expected to keep cool. Maybe this cop deserved a reprimand and negative review in his record, but $450,000?
From the Alamedan: Attorney Susan Kang Gordon said Navarro, who is schizophrenic and physically disabled, suffered from multiple arm fractures and other injuries as a result of the incident. She said he was hospitalized for several months and is permanently disabled as a result of it. “He’s still crippled today,” Gordon said Wednesday.
Really? and how much of that $450,000 did she get? $150,000 would be standard. The policeman must have thrown the guy in the back of a wagon without a seat belt and then driven erratically. For that amount you think something must be wrong with police behavior, but may be as simple as City=deep pocket. Law suit = shakedown.
Comment by MI — May 8, 2015 @ 12:42 pm
The distance from the front row to the podium is less than 30 feet.
Comment by vigi — May 8, 2015 @ 12:59 pm
This incident happened in 2012. For years 2011-2013, Sgt. Wyeth earned just under $230K/year.http://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=Patrick+Wyeth
For that much compensation, I expect a greater degree of professionalism and judgment than is seen in the video. Isn’t that why we pay them so much? APD are not being paid for the degree of brute force and humiliation they can inflict when it isn’t warranted.
You really have to watch the long version of the video. Most of it has the victim bent over the hood of a police car in the hot sun, while the officers search him. Wyeth (or some cop) is heard saying “I’m really getting tired of you (meaning the victim)” and “What are you doing in this part of town? You’re never over here.”
Yet whenever the victim tries to speak, Wyeth tells him to “be quiet” or “shhhh.” When you treat someone in a subhuman fashion for no reason, how do you expect them to act the next time?
Wyeth has arrested the victim before, and knows he lives 3 blocks from the police station. So why is Wyeth stalking this unarmed non-violent possibly paranoid person, trying to keep him in his place? Making mentally challenged people more uncomfortable in their surroundings is a recipe for disaster.
Comment by vigi — May 8, 2015 @ 3:52 pm
Mentally challenged people also commit crimes, and some carry guns and shoot people and police officers. From the video, it looked like Wyetth exerted the appropriate degree of force in detaining the suspect. #10, have you ever been arrested or cited?
Comment by Alan — May 8, 2015 @ 4:43 pm
Running from somebody with a gun is only rational.
Comment by Anonymoustroll — May 8, 2015 @ 6:59 pm
A Virginia state trooper once asked me, “Are you arguing with me?”
I looked him right in the eye and said, “I have a policy against arguing with anyone who is armed.”
He looked at me and said, “Get outta here.”
I quietly drove off sans ticket.
Comment by JohnB — May 8, 2015 @ 9:07 pm
10. vigi, “earned” $230 a year? are including all costs of employment like benefits and pension or is that supposed to be salary? Just the facts please, not “John/Cobalt” manipulative bullshit. As for the extended video you describe, those details do expand on what I watched, but I think “stalk” may be hyperbolic because this cop was simply responding to a call. But $450K seemed steep for standard shakedown by ambulance chasing lawyer so truth is probably somewhere in between, which we the public may never be able to be certain.
Comment by MI — May 9, 2015 @ 2:29 pm
@14. That’s why I posted the link to Transparent California. I try to use a consistent, non-partisan source for such data. Earnings = total pay + benefits, per calendar year.
@11. i see mentally challenged persons as patients, not threats. Instead of yelling: “Stop or I’m going to hurt you”, I wonder if the cop would have gotten better results by yelling: “Wait! Come here,I need your help”
The police sergeant earns as much as the average earnings of a primary care physician that year. I hope next time he uses more brains than brawn. Will cost the city less in the long run.
Comment by vigi — May 9, 2015 @ 3:09 pm
actually the total cost to tax payers of employing Sgt. Wyeth is not “earnings”, but I’m too busy to go verify exactly what your $235K represents. Don’t know where you’re getting Phasician “earnings” figure from either, but thought this video might give some perspective. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/08/1383343/-3-disturbing-questions-concerning-this-video-of-an-officer-punt-kicking-a-black-man-in-the-face?detail=email
Comment by MI — May 11, 2015 @ 3:10 pm
Of course it is “earnings” for Wyeth. The money is spent on him, for his benefit and no one else’s, and that expenditure is in exchange for his duty as an employee. How could it not be “earnings?”
Comment by dave — May 11, 2015 @ 3:25 pm
Rather than nitpick the word “earnings”, I merely wish to point out that police officers now earn as much as many doctors do. However, doctors have to carry malpractice insurance in order to work. With all the mistakes made in the field, maybe police officers should start carrying malpractice insurance, too.
Comment by vigi — May 11, 2015 @ 4:10 pm
Vigi, are you willing to pay for malpractice insurance premiums as a taxpayer for the risks that police officers take?
Comment by Alan — May 11, 2015 @ 5:16 pm
Taxpayers are already paying for any practice, mal or not, risky or not, police officers take. It’s always the deep pockets (read City) and rightfully so, that malpractice lawsuits end up being filed against.
Comment by jack — May 11, 2015 @ 6:50 pm