Friday, July 26, 2013

O'buma clueless. People lock doors in black neighborhoods because that's where criminals are ! Oakland woman killed in her car while driving through her neighborhood ! Where's the outrage ? ...

As usual, the great prevaricator in the White House is clueless about WHY people lock their doors when thye drive through predominently BLACK neighborhoods.

Sometimes even that doesn't help as in the case of Judy Salamon shown below.

She was driving home with one of the dogs she took care of in her dog walking business when someone or someones decided to end her life.

She would report to authorities abused animals in her neighborhood, yet an idiotic Oakland PD spokesman said she was :

" In the wrong place at the wrong time. "

Just what is the RIGHT place, officer to be shot and killed in your car while driving through your own neighborhood ?

People in her neighborhood knew her and like her.

But obviously, someone didn't.

Where's the outrage over yet another victim of crime in Oakland, Ca. ?

RIP. Judy.

May your killer or killers be caught soon.

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_23724316/oakland-woman-shot-and-killed-while-driving-through

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Oakland-Councilmembers-Call-for-Action-After-Womans-Shooting-Death-217139381.html

Now the Oakland City Council is calling for action after her death.

The same city government that laid off hundreds of cops and which led to a 25 % increase in crime in Oaktown ?


We hear these calls for " action " seemingly every day after someone gets killed in Oaktown, don't we ?

Yet the killing continues unabated.

Pictures from the SF Chronicle.



Updated: 10:16 p.m. Wednesday, July 24, 2013 | Posted: 3:22 p.m. Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Neighbors shocked at fatal shooting of 66-year-old woman


  •  17 1819 89 2263

judy salamon
Courtesy of Facebook
judy salamon
KTVU.com and wires
OAKLAND, Calif. — 
An elderly woman was shot and killed while driving through East Oakland only blocks from her home Wednesday afternoon has been identified by neighbors as 66-year-old Judy Salamon.
Neighbors in East Oakland’s Maxwell Park neighborhood said Salamon was known as the pet nanny, a professional dog walker who was a recognizable figure in the neighborhood.
"She walks her dogs up and down the street. We usually see her," area resident Sean Johnson told KTVU.
Residents of Maxwell Park can't believe the woman they saw everyday was the target of a gunman who opened fire on her green Subaru as she drove up the 2400 block of Fern Street at around 1:30 p.m.
Salamon's car slid backwards and crashed into a parked vehicle after she was fatally shot.
Officers arriving at the scene were unable to locate any suspects. No arrests had been made in the case.
"At this time we don't know if it's one or several suspects," said Oakland Police spokesperson Johnna Watson.
Police said glass beer bottles found at the scene may be useful as evidence to either identify potential suspects or witnesses. The shooting took place next to a cemetery where illegal dumping is prevalent. Multiple cameras in the area may have caught what happened.
Police said they can't speculate about motive, but neighbors told KTVU they can't imagine Salamon's death was anything but a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Well, this is Oakland. You know how our murder rate this year. But it's just scary that it's in such close proximity," said Johnson.
On Salamon's front door, police left a note from police letting folks know that a tan chihuahua as well as other animals have been removed from the now-empty home.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Oakland police at (510) 238-3821. Those who wish to remain anonymous may call (510) 773-2508.

Friday, July 19, 2013

Craigslist wouldn't allow this critical post to stay up on their car sales site !!! Buyer tries to tell sellers what bothers buyers. Ad got flagged !

Car listed as if it is somehow repairable and driveable.
I put an ad on Craigslist because I and my girlfriend are tired of dealing with people who sell  cars and don't remove the ads, people who don't return emails or calls, people who sell wrecked cars as being in good shape for premium prices, etc.

Yet a post which seemed to make perfect sense to me, was removed by CL because someone didn't like a BUYER being critical of the practices by car sellers.

The ad talked about people who sell cars with no engines, no transmissions, non working batteries or systems and who try to sell them as if there is nothing wrong with them.

Furthermore, cars that have been in accidents are sold as if the damage is of no import even when the buyer is going to have to pay a lot of money to fix the car should they buy it.

I guess someone on CL objected to the idea of constructive criticism of car sellers. Maybe even Craigslist itself.

Here's what I said :

A message to car sellers :

This guy wants $ 1500 for the above car even though it's probably not repairable, even though he could sell it for parts.

We've been saving up for a used Prius and have noticed some things that really bother us.

1)  IF your car doesn't run, you shouldn't try to be getting top dollar for it.

    IF you've had the engine fried, the battery system or the transmission, the car is going to need a lot of expensive repair.

    It also means that you shouldn't expect top dollar if the car is missing an engine, battery system or transmission, which I've seen far too often.

    LOWER the price.

     I saw one today where the seller was trying to sell it as if it was a primo car, yet the entire left back door was crushed in.

    IF it's been hit. LOWER the price.

    A lot !

2)   I see ads where the entire ad is in Spanish,
      While California may seem to have become a province of Mexico or part of Latin America, most buyers aren't there yet.
      Put the ad in ENGLISH, please !

      If you don't know any ENGLISH, get an English speaking friend to help you write your ad.

3)  Some sellers have it set up so that the only way to contact them is either using CL's email or their personal email.  The problem with that is that all too frequently they don't answer their email for days, don't answer it at all or if they have a phone number, don't answer their phone either.
      This drives buyers nuts as a lot of sellers take forever to answer emails as well.
       Answer your emails and do it promptly.
       There might be someone who NEEDS a car, has the cash ready and is ready to buy yours/
       Also, this IS the day of  voice mail, unlimited long distance calling, and it's a lot easier for someone to get a hold of you if they can call you. Playing voice mail or email tag with someone is annoying as hell and wastes the time of the buyer who could be moving on to purchase another car if they can't buy yours because YOU won't answer messages.

4)   IF you're selling a car, don't put $ 12 as the price of the car instead of $12000. Its dishonest and misleading. How hard is it to type out the full price ?

5)   IF your car has been in an accident, it's going to take a lot of money to repair it.
      Don't expect to get top dollar for it.
      Lower the price.

6)   If the car is leaking oil, transmission fluid, water, has a bad battery or battery system is not a good car. It's going to take money to fix. Please be honest and let people know the full condition of the car and don't expect to sell it for full value just because it's a Prius with some " issues ".
       We once bought a Saturn on CL & they guy told us the AC ran cool and he had spilled some coolant on the engine but it ran fine.
       We were naive enough to believe him and the car's engine seized after 2 months and died.
       Never again.

7)    Finally, people on and off here are selling Prius'es for waaaaaaay above what a dealer would pay for them in trade.
       As an example, we've seen a 2001 Prius that blue books for $4500 as the maximum price a dealer would pay list here for as much as $ 10000 !
      A 12 year old Prius is NOT a classic that needs restoration and is simply not worth twice blue book or more.

Thank you for your attention.

I thought the post was a reasonable one.

But someone flagged it for removal.

I can only draw the conclusion that dishonest sellers or Craigslist itself removed it because they dare not see a potential buyer list the flaws and shady practices of Craigslist sellers.

What is CL afraid of ?

Honesty ?



    




Monday, July 1, 2013

Verizon Iphone 4 nightmare. Incredibly BAD customer relations at company owned store in Pleasant Hill !!!

I just went through the day from hell on Saturday. I'm writing a letter to Verizon's CEO in New York in the hope that what happened to ME & my girlfriend doesn't happen to anyone else.

On the 20th of June, I bought a new Iphone at the Verizon store on Salvio Street in Concord, Ca.

Technically, the phone is not new. I got an Iphone 4 for free ( actually the state charged me $ 50.12 tax for a " free " phone which is irritating as hell, but the phone is a refurbished phone.

I got the phone primarily so my 94 year old Mother who lives in San Francisco can contact me in case something happens to her. She lives in San Francisco and has a history of strokes. And we both determined that my having a cell phone ( I'd not had one for a long time. ) ensures that she or emergency personnel or her doctors can always contact me day or night.

The phone worked for 8 days.

Then Friday night, after being out in 103 heat in Walnut Creek, I got home to my oven ...  err, apartment ( it was 95 in here when I walked in the door ) and plugged it into the USB charger which is hooked up to my Imac.

The phone felt hot so I decided during the night to turn it off so it could cool down.

In the morning when I got ready to go out to Safeway, I tried to turn the phone on & it kept shutting itself off.

So ... I called Verizon's customer support & was told that I could either go back to the store I bought it from & get a new phone or go to Verizon's company owned store in Pleasant Hill & that since it was under warranty, they would give me a new phone when I got there.

The problem with all of this is that the phone died on a Saturday.

Saturday it was 103 here in Martinez, and a 104 in Concord.

Neither my girlfriend nor I currently have a car.

We have to take buses.

We are saving up to get a used Prius but we're only at the half way point to have enough money to get something around a 2005 or 2006 model.

The bus system here cut their hours and routes and times when the state cut funding several years ago.

The buses run every 40 minutes during the week.

On the weekends, trying to get a bus to and from Martinez or Concord where she lives is a nightmare.

I had called her to meet me at the Verizon store, thinking in my naivete, that I would walk into the store, show them my dead Iphone 4 and walk out with a replacement.

When I bought the phone at the Verizon branded store in Concord, I saw the Verizon logo on the storefront & all over the walls & doors.

I should not be expected as a NEW customer to know which stores are franchisees & which stores are company owned.

All I want is a phone that works & I suppose expecting it to work for more than a week is somehow unreasonable.

So I walked to Amtrak from my apartment which is where the terminus for the bus is here. That was at 1:00 P.M.

It was already stifling hot & didn't hit 103 until 4 P.M.

I went into Amtrak to sit & wait and bought a Klondike bar. It was so warm inside the Amtrak station that the ice cream was melting all over my brand new shirt faster than I could eat the thing.

So, time passed. I waited until 3:08 P.M. for the bus.

40 minutes later I arrived at the bus stop near the Verizon store.

It was roasting hot when I got off the air conditioned bus !

After going into Bed, Bath & Beyond to buy a new bath towel I walked about a block to the Verizon store.

I walked in and was met by the Manager & told him what Verizon's customer service person had told me & that she had told me I could exchange the defective phone for a new phone that day.

My girlfriend, who had been waiting for me was in the store.

The manager told me at that time that I could either go TO the store where I bought the phone but that I would get NO replacement phone from them since I had NOT bought it at a company owned store.

Well, I blew my stack !

I walk with a cane & do not do well in the heat.

I've also been suffering with sinusitis & bronchitis & the heat aggravated that condition.

When I told him that Verizon's customer service person told ME to go TO their COMPANY OWNED store & get a new phone on the spot, he " apologized " to me but said there was nothing he could do.

I asked for someone over him or to talk to that person & he said there was NO way for him to do so & that HIS manager wouldn't be available until Tuesday.

I had completely lost it & was screaming at the guy because I felt not only incredibly put upon with having to wait for a bus for 2 hours but also waiting in the heat & wasting my time.

To top it off, while I was busy yelling, a guy came over & told me that he was a cop, showed me his badge & told me to leave the store or he would arrest me.

I don't see small print well anymore and have no idea what department his badge was for.

My girlfriend tried to say something ( she had been absolutely quiet until this time ) to speak up for me, because she had been patiently waiting for me to arrive & get done, and he told her to leave as well or he would arrest her.

So ... we both went outside.

I calmed down after a few minutes.

I went back inside, the officious bully cop had left & I asked the manager ( after apologizing, which I shouldn't have had to do since * I * was the one put upon by their customer service person's incompetence ) how I would get a new phone.

He finally went & ordered me a new phone & it will arrive on Tuesday via FedEx.

But this should have never have happened.

When one calls a corporate tech support line, one is not unreasonable to expect them to tell you the proper information.

I've never had a Verizon cell phone before nor have I ever availed myself of any of their other services in the past.

One would think that THIS Manager could have helped me when I first walked in the door instead of telling me there was nothing he could do since I didn't buy the phone from their store.

But I suppose that would be too much to expect.

Customer service for a CUSTOMER.

So I got the paperwork for the replacement phone & we left to get something to eat.

I had to wolf it down & head back in time to get the last bus home.

And to top off the lousy day, my girlfriend somehow LOST her house keys in the process or all the running around after leaving the Verizon store.

I spent a total of 6 hours of wasted time to go home phoneless.

If this is how Verizon's corporate stores treat NEW customers, how in the hell do they treat long time established customers ?

It is not the way I would have done it when I worked in the customer service field.

I went out of my way to HELP customers.

I guess that concept is alien to managers at Verizon's company owned stores.

I am still furious over this & so is my girlfriend.

I am not inclined to ever recommend ANYONE ever buy any product from the store in Pleasant Hill after this experience.

Pirates win 9 straight !!! Incredible ! GO, GO, GO BUCS !!!

For a team that until recently had 18 straight losing seasons, its incredible that  they are doing so well & have won 9 in a row.

I'm just sorry I can't be in the 'Burgh to enjoy it with my fellow Pirates fans.

Lets see the Pirates go all the way to the playoffs and the World Series !

Go BUCS !

It's time to FIRE public transit workers who go on strike ! The BART strike !!!

I've NEVER understood 2 things about the " relationship " between unionized transit workers and the agencies that are forced to deal with them.

Why these unionized employees hold entire cities or regions AND commuters hostage every time their contracts expire and why the agencies & the public put up with it.

There is NO requirement that transit workers be unionized.

Yet each time a contract expires with these unions, the unions either threaten to go out on strike or actually strike.

But ... they no longer have a contract so technically, they are no longer employees.

Why doesn't BART ( or Muni or AC transit ) just fire them ?

These union members are thugs.

They engage in the equivalent of extortion and hold commuters and the public as their hostages.

And disrupt the economy of cities and entire regions as a result.

Furthermore, despite what unions and liberal politicians would have YOU believe, they do NOT care for the worker as a whole.

If they did, they would continue to work and allow negotiations to continue until an agreement is reached.

Transit workers and transit systems SHOULD be considered essential public resources like fire and police service workers, who are also unionized in many cases.

People need not only to get to work, but to go to the city for medical appointments or to care for the elderly and have to travel long distances.

MY 94  year old Mother, who is frail, now won't have her caregiver because of this strike. She lives in San Francisco. Her care worker commutes from Hayward on BART.

They are NOT allowed to strike.

Neither should transit workers.

Its way past time to end the periodic extortion we are subjected to by union workers in this area, be they workers from BART, MUNI, AC Transit or elsewhere.

IF they strike, train replacement workers and replace them.

Period.

End the extortion and the greed of union workers who want huge pay raises, while thousands in the SF Bay Area have no jobs at all.

Picture from KGO 7 news.