John Grennan

Don Perata leads Oakland mayor’s race in early returns

The polls have closed after Oakland’s first Election Day under ranked-choice voting, and it may be a few more days before residents will know who their next mayor will be. But former California State Senate President Don Perata has taken the lead in the first ballot count.

Feinstein endorses Perata in mayor’s race

Dianne Feinstein, California’s U.S. Senator and the former mayor of San Francisco, has declared her support for former State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata’s bid to become Oakland’s mayor in November’s election.

Quan makes her grassroots case to be Oakland’s mayor

It’s an early February twilight in Rockridge, and commuters are making their way from the BART station to homes and shops along College Avenue. Mayoral candidate Jean Quan and a small group of canvassers are gathering around a silver Prius on Claremont Avenue.

1/1/10 New Year’s Resolutions

We have a busy year planned at Oakland North, as we’ll follow the mayor’s race; a new police chief’s efforts to keep Oakland’s crime rate on the decline; redevelopment initiatives in Upper Broadway and Golden Gate; and ongoing budget problems at the city and state level.

12/28/09 The news from North Oakland

Even during UC Berkeley’s winter break, Oakland North has a few more tricks up its sleeve. In the next few days, we’ll showcase some stories that we weren’t able to run during the semester.

12/22 What happened, Oakland? 2000-2009

Ten days from now, the calendar will change and usher in a new decade. The last time this happened, it was a slightly bigger deal, as we were changing centuries and millennia along with it. But still, a lot has happened in the past 10 years. Computers didn’t melt down during Y2K, but it wasn’t long before the United States was attacked on 9/11 and entered two wars that remain with us. Here in California, Arnold Schwarzenegger led a recall…

12/21/09 Health Care Rx for Oakland

After a flurry of political developments (and snow) in Washington D.C. this weekend, Congress is on the verge of passing a health care bill that would provide coverage to 30 million uninsured Americans. Liberals bemoan the bill’s lack of a government-administered “public option” for health care, while conservatives complain it will create skyrocketing deficits and unprecedented federal intrusion. No one–not the suddenly famous Olympia Snowe, the hard-bargaining Joe Lieberman, or Barack Obama himself–is getting exactly what they want from health…