Steve Saldivar

Oakland North Now 7.13.09

What’s going on in East Oakland? Employees at UC Berkeley deliver a “wake up call” to UC President mark Yudof on Sunday morning at his North Oakland home. So now that the school district gets control of its schools – where is the money? Learn more about Oakland! 90-minute walking tours are available through the city here.

Oakland North Now 7.12.09

Digi Dave would love Oakland North readers and bloggers from the East Bay to make it out to a Bloggers Camp. That’s right! Bring your laptop and ideas over to TechLiminal in downtown Oakland and rub elbows with some of Oakland’s blogeratti. It looks like your safe to ride the BART until next week when unions vote on a new contract. Word has it the union might have to give up 100 million in concessions. The economy might be getting…

Council unanimously passes Oakland Energy, Climate Action Plan

The Oakland Council members unanimously passed an Energy and Climate Action Plan late Tuesday night. The approval by the eight-member council now sends the city to preliminary planning to see how it can reduce greenhouse gasses to 36 percent below the 2005 level by 2020. Targets listed in the plan would meet international standards of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a unit put on partly by the United Nations Environment Program. “We are unlikely allies,” said Ian Kim, member…

Oakland North Now 7.09.09

Our very own Rickey Henderson is making it into the Hall of Fame! If you steal 1,406 bases, you’ll go into the Hall, too! Newsom, and San Francisco, can learn a thing or two from Oakland. Including turning junkyards into beautiful farms. Oakland Tribune is hosting a survey on whether BART employees should receive pay increases. What are you waiting for? Vote! (So far, 87 percent say ‘no.’)

North Oakland Now 7.08.09

  Oakland is celebrating 100 years of parks and recreation services this month. Oakland residents can purchase Fenton’s ice cream and, throughout the month of July, 25 percent of ice cream purchases will go back in Parks and Recreation. And, folks, you know we need it. Have you seen this man? Oakland police release photos of the man they are interested in the Tracy Spangler shooting last month. Oakland bloggers are in the zone about the city’s rezoning. What direction…

A new farmer’s market grows at Children’s Hospital

Patients and doctors at Children’s Hospital are now meeting Tuesdays at the new farmer’s market that takes place from 2 to 7 in the parking lot. Jen Cook, a pediatrician there, teamed up with Brett Bennner from Phat Beets, on Mandela Parkway, to establish the market. Cook was inspired after seeing the market at Kaiser in Oakland. “A light bulb went off. It makes total sense,” said Cook. “A hospital is a place of healing and health. A lot of…

OAKTOWN EATS: La Calaca Loca

  Chips and salsa can make or break a Mexican meal. While Las Palmas or Cactus Taqueria might bolster healthy Mexican cuisine -they fail to match the quality and quantity of these triangle corn appetizers. This is where La Calaca Loca quietly excels. The restaurant fries their corn tortilla chips ($1.50) to perfection. With the hearty chunks of tomato and a dash of cilantro and onion, this appetizer might be confused for a meal of its own. You can enjoy…

Dancing Under the Stars at Jack London Square

Every Friday night this summer, Linden Street Dance Studio will come out to Jack London Square and teach free dancing lessons. Everything from Salsa to Swing. They bring the dance floor, you bring the smooth moves. This Friday night, they will be providing free classes on the Tango. [This video report is no longer available.]

A produce store grows in West Oakland

Among the dilapidated housing, the abandoned, weed covered lots and graffiti marked walls of West Oakland sits the Mandela Foods Cooperative, an organic grocery store. It’s an ideal place to start an organic grocery store and nutritional education center, said Stephanie Camus.  “There hasn’t been a real grocery store here for 30 years.” Camus is one of eight workers and owners of the cooperative that opened at 1430 7th Street earlier this month. “We’re trying to provide healthier food for…

Oakland North Now 6.14.09

  Haven’t taken a walking tour of Oakland? You totally should! Take a look at some of Oakland’s oldest buildings. The Eastbay Express is now taking votes for  their annual Subcultures awards. Perform your civic duty and vote! Hang out with Frank Chu for the 2nd annual Temescal Street Cinema June 18th and watch a series of shorts made by local artists. Bring a chair!

North Oakland Now 6.13.09

  I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM! What’s better than ice cream? Free, Ice Cream! Dreyer’s will be scooping out free ice cream by folks walking by Pier 39 tomorrow from 1:30 – 3:30. Readers: email us with your favorite flavors they handed out! Head down to Defremery Park on 1651 Adeline Street today from noon to six for the 2nd Annual Children’s Memorial Day in the Park.

North Oakland Now 6.12.09

  Any plans for the weekend? Head on over to your nearest park … while you still can! Call in sick for work this morning and head on over to 2201 Broadway  and learn how to repair your books. Starting at 9 a.m., The California Genealogical Society will teach you how to make and repair your books LoBot Gallery is holding a multimedia arts event. Opening reception begins at 7 p.m. Enjoy local artists while dancing the night away with…

Career Center popular with Oakland’s unemployed

Across the street from the City Center where professionals work purposefully on laptops and Blackberries, a different scramble unfolds inside the Old Oakland Bank building. There, a portion of Alameda County’s 80,100 who are unemployed—10.3 percent, in April compared to 5 percent at the same time last year—shuffle through literature on how to sharpen resumes and and interviewing skills.

Marriage is only a matter of time say those at nation’s oldest gay bar

Gilbert De Jesus remembers where he was when he heard last week’s news that  the California Supreme Court upheld the proposition that changed the state constitution to outlaw gay marriage. The general manager of the White Horse Inn – established in 1932 and serving as one of the oldest gay and lesbian bars in the United States—was in the back office. “I’m really disgusted,” said De Jesus, who is among the 18,000 couples married after the California court upheld gay…