More than a dozen Oakland clergy members held signs that read “No Coal” and “Faith Against Coal” outside the city council meeting on Tuesday to demand that the council immediately stop a plan to ship coal through the city. Before the meeting, some leaders from the Christian and Jewish communities spoke enthusiastically to an audience about why they believe coal should be banned due to possible environmental and health risks.
On Thursday evening, high school students from the Oakland youth organization Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL) wrote their visions for the vacant lot at 11th Street and Franklin on a poster. Some ideas were a skate park, garden, vegan restaurant or a dog park, but none of them included the current proposed development, a Hampton Inn hotel. Members from AYPAL and UNITE HERE Local 2850, a union that represents East Bay and North Bay hotel and food…
Asian LGBTQ people often do not know certain words regarding sex and sexuality in their native language—or their language may not even have a certain word—which can affect the way they communicate with their doctor. It is also a challenge for medical providers, who need to find the most culturally appropriate terms to use for an individual patient.
A man sits alone in one of the last pews at the Cathedral of Christ the Light. The man, wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt, stares at the altar where at the center, a grand full body image of Jesus, which looks like a projection, overlooks the inside of the cathedral. The place is empty, but not completely silent. There is a soft, sustained ringing sound, but a man and two women silence it when they rush in. They immediately take out…
Over 50 people of faith, including religious leaders, from Oakland have signed a letter urging Mayor Libby Shaaf and the city council to reject the plan to export coal from the Oakland Bulk and Oversize Terminal, located at the old Army base. The letter was presented to them during the city council meeting on October 20.
Protestors chanted “Living wage, not poverty wage!” and “Downtown Oakland not for sale!” to the lively rhythm of music played by a five-piece band featuring a tuba, saxophone, trumpet and drums as they took the streets of downtown Oakland on Tuesday evening. “We’re at the site of the hopefully-never-built Hampton poverty hotel,” shouted Wei-Ling Huber, president of UNITE HERE Local 2850, into a megaphone. Organizers and members of UNITE HERE, a union that represents East Bay and North Bay hotel and…
The Oakland City Council opposed the Department of Housing and Development’s (HUD) proposal for decreasing the value of Section 8 vouchers for Alameda and Contra Costa County.
The Sierra Club, a nationwide environmental organization, and three petitioners represented by Earthjustice, a non-profit law organization focused on environmental issues, have filed a lawsuit against the City of Oakland demanding it conduct an additional environmental review for the Oakland Bulk and Oversize Terminal. The new shipping terminal will be located at the old Army base in West Oakland may be used to ship coal through the city. The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court aims “to hold the…
On Saturday at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, panels at least ten feet tall displayed pictures of Oakland immigrants, artists and business owners of different ethnic backgrounds. As Latin music played, visitors strolled by and read the biographies of those featured in the exhibit. “Alla en el Rancho Grande,” referring to a traditional Mexican song, was the first of a series of upcoming events related to the public programming initiative called Latino Americans: 500 Years of History. The National Endowment of…
Undocumented children under the age of 18 may soon qualify for full Medi-Cal coverage if Governor Jerry Brown signs Senate Bill 4 before the October 11 deadline.
During a public hearing Monday, the Oakland City Council heard testimony on the possible effects of a plan to export coal from a new cargo facility
The transportation service began running on an expanded schedule and operating with longer train cars during rush hour.
At the Oakland City Council meeting Tuesday night, the council voted to assist the development of worker cooperatives and voted unanimously to support the 100 Cameras campaign, which encourages the public to film police activity. Much of the meeting time was spent hearing public comments from a handful of activists from the civil rights coalition By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), who criticized the Oakland Police Department (OPD) for the number of officer-involved shootings of African American men in the city….