Month: March 2025

Outside a stately old beige-bricked building with three curved archways stands a few dozen people in front of two tables with white awnings over them. In the foreground, a woman sits at a picnic table on the lawn.

Oakland’s 16th Street Station gets historic status, while advocates fight encroaching development

A landmark of the Prescot neighborhood, Oakland’s 16th Street Station is hard to miss. Just off Interstate 880, the 40-feet-tall Beaux Arts style building towers above surrounding homes and squat industrial buildings. The station is fenced off, with graffiti covering the terracotta cladding below the building’s three signature grand arched windows.  Built in 1912, the former transportation hub was once the largest Southern Pacific Railroad station in Northern California. It served as a meeting place during the Civil Rights Movement…

By on March 27, 2025
Two red garage doors on a white structure with a plaque in the middle identifying it as Station 25.

Oakland spares firehouses, but it will be months before closed stations reopen

Oakland City Council voted Tuesday to reopen three fire stations that were temporarily closed to save money amid a $130 million budget shortfall.  The resolution passed unanimously, signaling a push to restore critical fire and medical services to impacted neighborhoods. “There is nothing more vital to the voices of Oakland residents than preserving essential, public safety resources, which absolutely includes each and every single one of our fire stations,” said Councilmember Janani Ramachandran. The vote comes days after the city…

By on March 5, 2025