A group of Bay Area folks come together every year on March 14 to celebrate pi — the mathematical constant and the dessert. Laura Hautala spent a recent Saturday afternoon joining in on the peculiar celebration.
Cities like Oakland would like to see more residents commuting by bike. But urban biking is risky, and sometimes both drivers and cyclists aren’t sure how to keep things safe.
The city of Oakland wants to put its energy and climate action plan into practice, and you’re part of it. The plan aims to reduce Oakland’s greenhouse gas emissions 36 percent by 2020 and requires individuals’ help to get the job done.
More than two years after a recession-induced merger, People’s Federal Credit Union is striving to break even. To sustain the cost of providing financial services for West Oakland’s low income residents, People’s must revive its sluggish loan income, says Self-Help Federal Credit Union of North Carolina, the parent company helping West Oakland’s only thrift back to health.
Two public safety debates dominated the Oakland City Council meeting on Tuesday: local merchants pleaded for increased policing and other neighbors turned out to oppose the planned Fruitvale gang injunction. The two discussions bookended a lengthy examination of plans to remodel the Telegraph Avenue McDonald’s.
Mayor Jean Quan said that closing the budget gap by only making cuts would require 80 percent reductions in discretionary spending from the general purpose fund.
Nothing brings people out to a city council meeting quite like the prospect of losing business—or gaining property taxes. With Oakland city contracts, development deals, and the prospect of a new parcel tax up for vote, scores of people packed the chambers on Tuesday night to give the Oakland city council a piece of their mind.
The Oakland Athletics finished up their opening weekend series against the Seattle Mariners with a 7-1 victory on Sunday while celebrating Japanese Heritage Day.
Oakland urban homesteading celebrity Novella Carpenter could face fines from the city for unpermitted agricultural activities and lose the animals she keeps at Ghost Town Farm, a West Oakland garden that helped make local, sustainable food popular in the East Bay.
California’s state legislators aren’t the only ones uncertain about Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed cut of redevelopment agency funds. Even though schools stand to gain if lawmakers approve the proposal, Oakland educators worry that taking funds from affordable housing could put more students at risk of homelessness.
A lawsuit against the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s new air quality guidelines will go to trial, according to a press release from the California Building Industry Association, the organization that is suing the air district.
Limited staffing and budget constraints hamper Oakland’s recently reinstated problem-solving officers, Deputy Chief Eric Breshears said in a report presented to the City Council Tuesday. Breshears said the police department is optimistic about the program but has faced challenges in implementation since its reinstatement in January.
More than 40 parents and family members completed classes as part of a program called Oakland Baby Learning Communities. The classes, run by the city, county, and privately funded SafePassages program, teach parenting skills to immigrants and parents of children who have experienced domestic or community violence.
In Oakland’s Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, building inspector Ed Labayog walks past a line of nearly a hundred people waiting to apply for a job with the city on his way to the street where his car is parked. Wearing a black button-up City of Oakland shirt and carrying a bag containing case files, a camera, and his lunch, he’s setting out to find blighted properties. For Labayog, seeking out trash, graffiti and signs of crumbling structures on private property is his job.
On Wednesday, the International Community School put on a Dr. Seuss pajama party—with the help of local PBS affiliate KQED—during the time when their after school program normally meets. The party started out with an appearance by a costumed avatar of the Cat in the Hat (the real deal if you ask any of the students) and branched off into story time in each of the Kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms.
With key city planning issues up for public comment, Tuesday’s city council meeting offered heated debate over public transportation, zoning, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.