OAKLAND – A 63-year-old Newark man was found guilty by a jury this week of committing an anger-fueled hate crime on Interstate 880 in May 2023. The attack targeted a Black woman and her three children, prosecutors and court records show. Portions of the attack were captured on cellphone video.

Tracy Robert Blackwell was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and a hate crime, prosecutors said. He is being held in Santa Rita Prison without bail. He faces seven years in prison, prosecutors said, but a sentencing date had not been set Friday.

According to prosecutors and the California Highway Patrol, a black woman and her three children were driving south on Hegenberger Road in East Oakland toward the I-880 on-ramp at around 4 p.m. on May 16, 2023. Blackwell, driving a Jeep Wrangler, cut off all lanes and pulled in front of her, nearly striking her vehicle.

The woman honked at Blackwell before each vehicles entered the highway.

Prosecutors said Blackwell began yelling the N-word and other obscenities at the girl and her children as they were within the driveway and continued doing in order he drove parallel to them on the highway. He also threw unknown objects at their vehicle.

At one point, the mother had her 14-year-old daughter film the encounter on her cellphone, after which Blackwell attempted to ram her vehicle, authorities said. No one was injured.

According to the CHP, Blackwell lost control of the Jeep and crashed within the shoulder of the road but was in a position to proceed driving. He followed the girl and her children to a gas station in East Oakland, where she got help, court documents say.

The CHP eventually identified Blackwell as a suspect and he was arrested on May 19.

In the press release, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price said, “Not only was this incident dangerous, it was traumatic because part of the crime involved racial slurs. My office will not tolerate acts of racist hatred in our community, especially when children are involved.”

According to court records, Blackwell has been convicted of a felony six times since 1984. This features a 2002 conviction for lewd acts on a toddler under 14, for which he served a jail sentence and was required to register as a sex offender.

Originally published: September 6, 2024 at 11:55 am

NEWARK – A former deputy mayor is returning to the Newark City Council to switch recently resigned Councilman Mike Bucci.

Ana Apodaca, who last served as deputy mayor in 2014 before deciding to not run for re-election, was appointed to town council on Monday.

Bucci resigned on June 27 because he could not afford his hometown. He desired to buy a house in Newark, but said he couldn’t afford the $60,000 down payment or the high cost of living within the East Bay.

The self-proclaimed “most handsome city councilman with an eyepatch ever” said his salary at a San Leandro-based construction company, in addition to the roughly $13,000 he earned annually as a city councilman, were nowhere near enough to purchase a house in town.

After playing the lottery twice per week, his luck didn't change and he decided to maneuver together with his family to Oxnard, where his grandmother lives in a condo owned by the family, he said in an interview.

Apodaca joined the Newark City Council in 2006 and in addition worked for years within the California Legislature and as a government relations manager. In 2011, she lost a bid for Newark mayor to current City Councilman Alan Nagy.

In her interview with council members this week, she said her top priorities for the rest of this 12 months's term could be to strengthen community education, support police and public safety, and address town's reasonably priced housing needs.

“I think for anyone who lives in this city, in the Bay Area, affordable housing is the most pressing issue,” Apodaca said. “We need to make sure that people like me who grew up in Newark can afford to live in Newark if they want to.”

Apodaca said she wouldn’t run for election in November but would give the seat to whomever voters select. Of the eight people vying to temporarily replace Bucci, only Apodaca and one other candidate said they’d not run for the seat in the autumn.

Hannon's motion to appoint Apodaca was seconded by Deputy Mayor Luis Freitas and passed unanimously by the council.

“I believe it's in my DNA to really give back to my community,” Apodaca said. “To give back to the city of Newark again would be an absolute honor. It was an honor to serve for these nine years and it would be an honor to serve with you again.”

Other applicants for Bucci's seat included: Phil Bloxom, a pc engineer; Daniel Cardenas, a former economic development commissioner in Fremont and founding father of a pediatric cancer research organization; Lucia Gutierrez, who formerly served on the Newark Unified School District Board; Eve Little, a parks and recreation professor at Cal State East Bay; Raju Mathew, a consultant and former manager of the Alameda County Environmental Health Department; Jason Matthew Miguel, a representative of the Santa Clara Valley Water District; and Fatima Shaikh, a freelancer and former member of Ohlone College's student government.

NEWARK – City Councilman Mike Bucci is resigning before the tip of his third term because he can not afford to live in the town he represents.

Bucci, who describes himself as “the most handsome eyepatch-wearing city council member ever,” doesn't rule out leaving town entirely if his luck changes.

“I play the lottery twice a week,” he said on Friday, describing it as a final resort.

But Bucci will likely move out of Newark because he desires to buy a house. He plans to maneuver to Oxnard in Ventura County.

Bucci said his salary at a construction company in San Leandro, even combined along with his roughly $13,000 annual salary as a city councilman, was nowhere near enough to search out a good home for his wife and daughter in Newark.

He said his landlord recently died and although his relatives haven’t any plans to sell the home he lives in any time soon, “I can't take any risks. We live in a house that's worth millions.”

Mayor Mike Hannon was saddened but not surprised by Bucci's resignation letter, which he sent Wednesday. He understands, and remembers how different the Bay Area real estate market was when his family left their rental property in 1985 and located their first home here, which they bought with family help.

“The magnitude in dollar amounts is just significantly higher,” he said. “I know that many young couples are able to buy homes because they make sacrifices. The difficulties remain more or less the same.”

Homes in Newark now cost greater than one million dollars – or almost that much, Bucci said.

Before his resignation, Bucci, 47, had posted on social media that he and his wife, who works for the Dublin San Ramon Services District, had tried unsuccessfully several times in recent times to purchase a house with a $60,000 down payment and a credit rating of 785, he wrote.

“We've tried over the years. We've tried a lot,” he said in an interview. “It was never enough. And a bank won't give you a loan that's worth more than your house. There's nothing you can do about it… It's heartbreaking. And at some point you just throw in the towel.”

He said he’s now moving to Oxnard along with his wife and daughter right into a family-owned two-bedroom condo where his grandmother currently lives.

“This is the best option for us,” Bucci said. “It's difficult because we don't have a life there. Our life is here. But the truth is that our whole family left here.”

The councilman publicly identified on social media what he believed to be the most cost effective house on the town: a Twenties home on Olive Street with an asking price of $999,000 and old cars, trash and garbage outside. He estimated he wouldn’t have the ability to repay the mortgage for years.

“I just had to be honest with myself… Is it worth killing myself to pay off a mortgage that's worth more than both of our salaries?” Bucci asked. “I'll probably be dead before my 77th birthday and my poor wife would be stuck with it and probably have to sell it at some point anyway.”

Or, he bets, he could afford something cheaper he saw on Facebook Marketplace: a 29-foot 1996 Winnebago Minnie Winnie with a Ford F350 Super Duty 7.4-liter V8 engine and a kitchenette, bedroom and living area.

“Even though you know you can't win, sometimes you just have to fight the good fight, man,” Bucci said. “It sucks, man. I'm not having fun right now.”

Since his election in 2014, he has helped open the town's latest civic center, which incorporates a brand new city hall, police station and library, in addition to the town's first dog park and skate park.

The Newark City Council will accept applications to fill Bucci's position until July 5. The council will then hold a special meeting on July 8 to contemplate the brand new applicants.

Regarding Bucci's tenure as city councilor, Hannon said, “Hopefully when he looks back, he will look back with affection and pride.”