The morning of March 8 was beautiful, and Jennifer Pope wanted to let fresh air into her East Oakland home. So, as one often does on a sunny day, she opened all the windows. Suddenly, though, came the odor — what Pope describes as a burnt resin smell. “It came wafting in the house and it just ruined my whole morning,” Pope said. “I can’t even enjoy living in my own home because this odor is so intrusive.” Pope reported…
Citing environmental concerns, Oakland City Council on Tuesday again pushed back its decision on Golden West, an eight-story complex that would provide 222 housing units with ground floor retail and work space across from the West Oakland BART Station, at 1396 Fifth St. The project has already been delayed for over a year. After the Planning Commission unanimously approved it in March 2021, it was brought before City Council in September when East Bay Residents for Responsible Development, a coalition…
AB&I Foundry, one of the largest industrial sources of air pollution in Oakland, announced plans last week to cease operations at its century-old plant and move to an existing facility in Tyler, Texas. The closure, beginning in June, will cut 200 jobs and comes just weeks after two lawsuits were filed in Alameda County Superior Court accusing the company of spewing excessive levels of a carcinogen into East Oakland’s air. “I am really scared for our community and what impact…
The state of California and an Oakland-based environmental group are suing the pipe casting facility AB&I Foundry for reportedly emitting excessive levels of a carcinogenic chemical into East Oakland’s air. Both lawsuits, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, accuse the foundry of violating California’s Proposition 65 — a law requiring businesses to warn people about significant exposures to harmful chemicals. The state’s lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta on Feb. 15, states that McWane Inc. operating as AB&I Foundry,…
Six-foot-tall sunflowers, planted in between rows of peas and fenugreek, turn their heavy heads towards the late-morning sun. Three farmers methodically till the soil for garlic and vital cover crops 200 feet above bustling city streets in the Temescal district of North Oakland. At one acre, the Rooftop Medicine Farm is the East Bay’s largest rooftop farm.
The neighborhood surrounding the West Oakland BART station could be described as a microcosm of the city’s growing housing inequality: Unhoused residents live in camps alongside new apartments and condos that cater primarily to transplants and commuters. The area is set to undergo even more changes in the next few years. As part of a larger West Oakland Specific Plan launched by the city in 2014, hundreds of market-rate units, stores and workspaces are expected, which would change West Oakland’s skyline permanently. …
City officials and community leaders want to pump newly available federal money into addressing the gun violence that has claimed more than 100 lives this year and the health inequities that enabled COVID-19 to devastate communities of color. Both Oakland and Alameda County declared gun violence a public health crisis in the hopes of speeding up the process of securing money from the American Rescue Plan, which passed in March. But the money is still tied up in red tape…
Oakland’s labor unions say they should have been involved in a draft mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy that would apply to the city’s 4,500 or so employees as a condition of employment. “Unions aren’t against vaccines at all,” said Elizabeth Ortega, executive director of the Alameda Labor Council. “But we do want to stay at the table.” Ortega said that the 135 unions that ALC represents received notice of the mandate only a few hours before the draft was released. She…