Oakland International Airport is the first airport in Northern California and the second in the nation to install chargers for electric cars, which drivers can use for free.
The Alameda County Community Food Bank and local letter carriers will work together to collect food donations for the Stamp Out Hunger program. Summer is a time when many low-income families need food assistance, because fewer kids have access to free lunches at school.
Get Connected! Oakland aims to introduce low-cost broadband to 10,000 households and refurbish 2,500 computers this year.
Beginning on Earth Day, April 22, Bay Area truck drivers will have a new place to buy locally-made biodiesel. Sirona Fuels, an Oakland-based energy company, has been selling diesel made from recycled cooking oil to retailers and distributors for the past two years. Now it has opened its doors to the public.
Since last July, Oakland clubs have been able to apply for permits to extend their hours from 2 am to 4 am. However, only three such permits have been issued, said city councilmember Nancy Nadel during a crime prevention meeting of the Jack London District Association last night.
After two years of planning, the city of Oakland is now trying to win public support for a plan to create new homes, retail and jobs along Broadway, between 23rd Street and Interstate 580 in downtown Oakland.
The front gate at the Oakland branch of weGrow, the country’s first “out of the closet” company that sells indoor marijuana growing equipment, is now locked up and its former owners are embroiled in a series of heated legal battles. The 15,000 square foot warehouse facility, located two miles away from the Oakland International Airport, opened last October with a press conference at which a number of city officials, including Oakland Mayor Jean Quan (a city councilmember at that time), showed up to support the store in front of the national media.
More than 300 people convened at the North Oakland Senior Center on Saturday morning to share their concerns – most of them budget-related – with Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and Councilmember Jane Brunner.
More than one hundred people, many wearing shirts with union logos printed on them, convened at the Asian Cultural Center in downtown Oakland on Saturday morning to listen to a panel discuss many of the problems encountered by immigrant laborers, particularly those who are undocumented.
A state bill that would ban the possession and distribution of shark fins in California has led to debate between conservationists and Chinese American leaders, and has its share of critics in Oakland’s Chinatown. The bill would prevent hundreds of restaurants from serving shark-fin soup, a traditional Chinese delicacy that is a mark of prestige at banquets.
With some passing drivers honking to express support, dozens of teachers and students rallied in front of Oakland’s Elihu M. Harris State Building on Wednesday afternoon to protest the severe budget cuts awaiting school districts if Governor Jerry Brown’s tax extension proposal fails.
The title of the economic forum held yesterday in downtown Oakland said it all: “The Worst Is Yet to Come.” The forum, a repeat of one hosted by Alameda County in Fremont on Tuesday, aimed to provide an outlook on the county’s economy and illustrate potential impacts of the proposed federal and state budget cuts on the region.
Students at Oakland’s ARISE High School will soon have all the equipment they need to access the Internet at home; on Monday they received a donation of 220 wireless routers from Cisco. They’re also eligible to get free computers from Oakland Technology Exchange West (OTX West), a non-profit that offers refurnished PCs and computer training to all Oakland students in grades 6 to 12.
Oakland launched a new energy efficiency program called Oakland Shines Wednesday, with the goal of reducing energy costs for business owners in the downtown area. “The goal is to get 80 percent of the 4,000 businesses to participate, and to reduce their energy consumption by 20 percent, ” said Derrick Rebello, the CEO of Quantum Energy Services and Technology, at the program’s kick-off event. Berkeley-based QuEST and PG&E are the city’s main partners in Oakland Shines, which is funded by a $5 million grant from the California Energy Commission.
Photographers who find their muse in Oakland can now submit their work to compete in the 2011 Visit Oakland Photo Contest, which began Tuesday. Visit Oakland, formerly the Oakland Convention & Visitors Bureau, is dedicated to promoting Oakland as a destination for meetings and travel. This is its fifth photo contest, and so far it has recognized more than 100 photos.
Snap Judgment—which began airing weekly last July and is produced in Washington’s studio in Oakland—is now the fastest-growing show on National Public Radio, with more than 100 stations airing it weekly and over 160 having played its specials. All the episodes are available to stream on the show’s website (SnapJudgment.org) and to download as a podcast on iTunes.