Oakland (Special to ZennieReport.com) – On May 20th of 2025, Former Congresswoman Barbara Lee became Oakland’s 52nd Mayor, and what was to be a small in-office signing event turned into a City Hall Chambers ceremony attended by 400 people. As a reminder, that happened because Sheng Thao, the 51st Mayor of Oakland, was recalled on Election Day 2024, meaning new Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee has to run for office again in 2026.
But forgetting all that, Oakland Mayor Lee wants to have a big, expensive inauguration bash fit for the President on June 8th, and costing $300,000. Given Oakland’s woes, Mayor Lee should give that money to Jackie Simpkins, the Owner of The Alley Bar at 3325 Grand Avenue, and help keep it open.
For those of you who don’t know about The Alley, it’s a legendary Oakland bar and restaurant that’s known for singing, cocktails, and steaks, and and whole lot of fun. Here I am with my godparents Bob and Barbara Shock (Sadly, Barbara, also known as Barbara Schaaf) left us for Heaven two Friday’s ago:
And The Alley was and is known for incredibly good singers. Here’s Dave Jackson from a few years ago, belting out a toon that only his voice could deliver (and that’s Jeff Labes at the piano):
And Jill Jacobs sang “Life Is A Cabaret” like no other:
But Susan Esposito was without a doubt The Alley’s best singer in history:
And you can only learn “The Oakland Song” at The Alley:
And we can’t talk about The Alley without mentioning the late Rod Dibble, who’s mastery of piano playing for a group of slightly inebriated patrons who think they can sing between 1961 and 2012 made The Alley extremely popular. Here’s Rod:
I even had my 50th Birthday Party at The Alley.
Anyway, Jackie needs the $300,000 because her building has depreciated by almost a million due to the crime in Oakland, making property values decrease. So, because of that, Jackie had to pay back her PPP loan of $250,000 which she had done with a balloon loan, but now she’s having trouble getting a loan to pay that off, because of the building’s depreciation.
Plus, Jackie never got her money from the State of California rental assistance program of $77,000 because two people from that office said that she got paid, when she did not and had and has proof. So she tried to get help via a class-action lawsuit, but the employees at the State of California rental assistance program said they did not know anything about it.
And if you’re wondering “Wasn’t there a fund-raiser for the Alley four years ago, the answer is “Yes!” and it raised $75,000:
The Alley Is Another Oakland Business Still Suffering From The Pandemic
This presents a problem not talked about: the fact that many Oakland businesses and residents did not gain the pandemic aid that was reported to have been given to them by what remains of the media. “I think there were about 50 of us or so who got into the class-action lawsuit,” Jackie said. “So I am just trying to find grants to pay back the balloon loan, before July 1st of this year.”
If Jackie can’t do that, her only option is to close The Alley because the bank is going to take it over. “I’ve applied for four loans, and all of the banks tell me they can’t do it because her building has depreciated so much,” Jackie said.
That’s not to say that The Alley’s not doing well business wise, even if its not enough revenue to pay off the balloon loan in a timely fashion, “it’s been slow of late, and that’s because of graduation, but it will pick up. If Mayor Barbara Lee could help me get some of those grants, that would be great,” Jackie said.
The grants Jackie’s referring to are from organizations like East Bay Community Foundation, which has the Oakland Small Business Resiliency Fund, and Direct Community Grants, but I pointed out to Jackie that those and other grants generally take longer to get than the July 1st deadline she’s facing. Jackie’s problem that could lead to the Alley’s closing needs immediate attention. As of this writing, it’s May 29th, 2025.
Now, If Oakland used tax increment financing under AB464 Mullin, it could give immediate help to businesses like Jackie’s suffering from the horrible PPP Loan Program. But Oakland has never implemented TIF aka “tax increment financing” (where property tax revenue gained from within a designated area of the City is captured for use within that area and collected in a fashion of TIF, which is a kind of doubling formula. The resulting monetary flow is used to float bonds, the proceeds of which go to business assistance if a program is designed using AB 464 Mullin. Here’s the skinny on that under-used program from my interview with Barbara Bobby Lopez:
Before we go back to the matter of Barbara Lee’s $300,000 Inauguration Shin Dig, it’s important to note that if the Payroll Protection Program Loans were grants (where she did not have to pay them back), then Jackie would not be in this situation. Some organizations, like Zennie62Media, Inc, (which received two PPP Loans), saw their PPP Loans forgiven but only after raising a lot of blog and vlog hell and joining a nationwide class action lawsuit.
PPP Loans Were A Problem For Small Businesses, Nationwide
As I vlogged four years ago, Bank of America made up its own forgiveness rules, which pissed off a lot of people and triggered a large set of class-action lawsuits. In March 2020 President Donald Trump created the PPP Loan Program via The CARES ACT, and set it up so that his major donor bank friends, like Bank of America, got the lion’s share of the business.
In effect, they were making money off the economic misery of the pandemic, and causing new problems for American small businesses by issuing loans and not grants. Jackie’s problem stems directly from the faulty design of the PPP Loan Program, as well as the federal government not doing anything to fix it. Congress should officially forgive the PPP Loans, and it would be nice if Donald Trump wrote an executive order to make that happen.
Many Oakland Businesses Are Still Harmed By The PPP Loan Program
And today, Oakland businesses are still harmed by the PPP Loan Problem, and it’s all going down right as Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee has her figurative hand out for money because she plans to party like it’s 1999, Sunday, July 8th, at 3 PM in Jack London Square. And have you seen the sponsorship requests?
The Oakland 2025 Inauguration Sponsorships start at a “low” of $500 and go up to $100,000. And what do you get for $500? One ticket and one reserved seat. And Oakland has a giant and growing homeless population, right?
The Barbara Lee Inauguration Team should take that money they raise and give it to Jackie Simpkins so she can meet her July 2025 deadline, and then plan other inauguration parties around town just to make money for the businesses that have suffered due to Oakland’s high crime rates, and lack of economic development know-how.
Help Jackie Simpkins Keep The Alley Alive In Oakland
If you want to help Jackie keep The Alley Bar and Restaurant Open, she asks that you call her at 510-329-4560. It’s a crisis emergency for Jackie Simpkins and The Alley, like it should be for Oakland itself, considering the plight of Oakland’s small business community, especially restaurants. But Mayor Lee wants a party all for herself and her friends to have paid seats starting at $500 and up to $100,000, while the rest of us are on our feet with no place to sit.
That’s a bad look.
Not a great start to an Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee Administration at a time when Oaklanders who have need to help Oaklanders and Oakland Businesses in need.
Save The Alley.